The Pain in the Confusion
by Animus et Anima
Summary: A pregnant Brennan leaves DC after overhearing a conversation between Booth and Hannah. Seven years later, she's back with her daughter and avoiding her old partner as much as possible. Will she succeed or will fate force her to face her past. Post S6.
1. People in the Pub

**Hi, everyone! I'm back with a new story! It takes place post- season 6. First two chapters are mostly a prologue to the rest of the story. I hope you enjoy it, and as always reviews are encouraged. I'm going to try to post at least once a week, but I'm a freshman in college, so I can't promise anything... Also, like all my work this is un-beta'ed so if there's a mistake PLEASE let me know.**

**And all I own are the first two season on DVD and most of the series. Everything else belongs to HH, KR, and co.**

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><p>Angela had spent the past two weeks in baby confinement with Michael, and was dying for some adult company. Sure, she had Jack and she loved him, but she just needed sometime out of the house with not maternal responsibilities for a couple of hours. He had the lab to escape to for several hours every day; she had nothing. This is why she called up Brennan Tuesday morning to see if she would meet her for lunch and asked Jack to take care of Michael for that amount of time. Both agreed, though Brennan's mind seemed to be someplace else during the conversation.<p>

The two women met up at the lab, deciding to walk to the Founding Fathers since it wasn't too far away. They talked about Michael, what was going on at the lab, and the most recent case; but none of that was what Angela really wanted to talk about. Because two months ago, Brennan had told her that she and Booth had slept together and given a few details. And since that morning, Angela hadn't heard one word about the relationship, except to keep it quiet. Though, she knew Hodgins and Cam already suspected something was going on between the two.

When they were almost to the bar, Angela finally couldn't take it. "So, are you going to make me wait until lunch to find out about how your relationship with Booth is going, or can we talk about it on the way?"

"There's not much to talk about Angela. We're two partners who are also good friends. There's nothing-"

"Sweetie, we might be in public, but it's still just me. I know that you're sleeping together."

Brennan smiled. "We have started a romantic relationship. However, we haven't had sex since that night."

Angela's jaw began to drag the ground before she asked, "Why the hell not? You two have had the sexual tension building between you since I met him. You can't seriously be telling that all the spark is gone."

"No, of course, not. I just don't think it's healthy for the fetus so I refuse to have sex. Plus, Booth wants to take things slow."

Angela completely missed the last sentence of that, her mind was too focused on the word _fetus_. "I'm sorry, Bren, but did you say fetus? As in a small human baby that's growing inside of you type fetus?"

"Yes. What other type of fetus would make me abstain from sex with Booth?" Brennan's rhetorical question was completely ignored by Angela.

"Oh my God! Brennan, why didn't you tell me sooner?" the artist almost yelled. Her best friend was pregnant! With Booth's kid! And it wasn't through invetro fertilization, it was through (what Angela assumed to be) sweaty, passion, sexy, old-fashion sex. "How far along are you?"

"About six weeks. I found out during the bowling case and was planning on telling you when we finished. But you were in the hospital with Michael and I didn't think I should steal you lightning. And we haven't talked with no one else around since then."

"The phrase is stealing my thunder. And you can take both and the rain for all I care! This is amazing, Bren! I'm so happy for you two," she told her as she held open the door to the Founding Fathers and let Brennan enter first.

"I find that being in a monogamous relationship with child is surprisingly fulfilling."

"Only if it's with the right person."

"I assume that's a comment on you being happy that-" Brennan stopped midsentence and looked just past Angela. Her eyes locked on something, and Angela could tell that it wasn't particularly good. Brennan let a painful expression take over her face for a mere moment before she put up a blank face.

"Sweetie?" Angela tried to get her attention. "Bren, is something wrong?"

"Hannah's here."

Angela whipped around and began to search the restaurant. She was a little surprised Brennan was so morose about seeing Hannah. Sure, she was dating Booth now and probably saw the reporter as a threat, but Bren and Hannah had been friends. And Hannah had rejected Booth's proposal causing them to breakup. Was Brennan worried that Hannah would be mad that she and Booth were a couple now? Because that would just be a flip from about eight months ago.

And then Angela saw why Brennan was so upset. Because Hannah was there. But not the same Hannah Burley that left in February; no, this one was pregnant. If Angela had to guess, she would say about five months. About the time that she and Booth broke up. And even worse was the fact that the man sitting across from her at the booth was Booth. Based on her reaction, Angela was willing to bet that Brennan had no knowledge of this meeting.

"I didn't know she was back in Washington."

"Me either." Brennan's words were cold and detached as though they were talking about a victim and not Booth's ex-girlfriend. "Why wouldn't Booth tell me?"

"Maybe she called him last minute like I called you," Angela tried.

"But he could have told me when I text him about having lunch with you."

"Maybe it was after?" It was a weak attempt on explaining Booth's actions, and they both knew it. But Angela had to tell her something.

"Then why not at least text me?"

"We could go over and ask," Angela said trying to make things simple. Brennan all but ignored her, choosing instead to walk over and sit on the other side of the beam that separated the booths. She sat so that the two could not see her and Angela followed her, not sure this was a good idea. "Does us spying on Booth and Hannah really seem like a good idea?"

"We're not spying. We're engaging in an anthropological study on what two former lovers discuss over lunch and how they interact," she answered quickly and quietly. "If our presence is known, then it will affect their actions."

"Sweetie, we're spying." Brennan shot her a glance before motioning for her to be quiet so she could hear the neighboring conversation.

"So, you aren't mad?" Hannah asked.

"Why would I be mad?" Booth questioned right back.

"Because I rejected your marriage proposal and then came back five months later asking you to be a father."

Angela watched as Brennan's already pale complex blanched. She reached out a hand to comfort her friend, but knew that only Booth could fix this situation.

"Hannah," he sighed at the next table.

"Seeley, you're one of the best men I know, and you've always another kid. You were the one that wanted to settle down. I'm ready for that now, and there's a child involved."

"It's not that simple. You told me no, and you're back now wanting me to be a father-"

"I only said no to marriage. You said that you couldn't go back to just dating," she clarified. "And I'm not asking for that."

"I know. What you're asking for is more, and I'm not sure if I can do it. Not right now."

At his words, Brennan stood up and stormed towards the door, and Angela immediately went after her. As soon as she was out of the bar, Brennan began to run down the street. Angela had no choice but to chase her and call out to her. People on the street watched as they ran by, trying their best to stay out of their way. Finally once they were a few blocks away, Brennan slowed down to walk allowing Angela to finally catch up to her. And when she approached, Angela saw the several beads of tears that had rolled down Bren's face.

"Sweetie," she started cautiously.

"Please, Ange, don't."

"He sounded like he was saying no," Angela tried.

"No. He said 'not now'. I thought what we had… He told me that he wanted thirty, forty, fifty years with me. I assumed he still wanted that. This is why you don't assume," she said with an emotionless voice again.

"He does. I know him; you know him. He still wants those fifty years."

"Just maybe not with me."

Angela sighed. Brennan was strong when it came to things and people she could face. When she could use her knowledge and skills to get what was needed done, she was fearless. Angela still remembered when she took down a Homeland Security agent without a second thought. But whenever emotions or serious relationships were involved, Brennan was fragile. She went from being the tough, indestructible anthropologist to the fifteen year old girl whose family had left her. She didn't trust anybody with her heart. At least, not until Booth came along. Sure, she and Angela had been friends but just after that first case with Booth, something had changed a little. She had been more willing to try a lasting friendship. She had even been living with someone; true, Peter ended up being a douche, but at least she was trying. Angela still credited Booth for it; she imagined something Booth said to her made her try connecting with people more.

But then they had become friends and, after way too long of a time, a couple. Angela knew that when Brennan gave her heart to Booth, he was never allowed to break it. She had assumed he had known that; how couldn't he? Everyone else at the lab did. But he was at the bar with Hannah discussing being a father to her child. Meanwhile, Brennan was about six weeks along.

"You're pregnant too; he won't abandon you."

Brennan looked away. "What if he didn't know?"

"What?"

"What if he didn't know I was pregnant?"

Angela was shocked. If she hadn't mentioned it to Booth and only told the artist that day that meant that she had kept the tidbit to herself since she found out. People shouldn't keep secrets like that from everybody. "You haven't told him? Brennan, you're six weeks pregnant!"

"I know. But you told me before Hodgins," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but I told him before I hit five weeks. You have to tell Booth!"

"I don't want to influence his decision. If he wants to be with Hannah, then I won't stop him. It might be best if I give him time to weigh the possibilities without my presence," Brennan said stoically, though Angela knew it was just a front. This was killing Brennan inside. And whenever anything (especially Booth) hurt Brennan, she had a tendency to run.

"No, he needs you around. Especially if you're pregnant. If you really want to go on a dig or whatever, and I mean like would give up an arm type want, then you need to talk everything through with him first. And I mean _everything_. You can't leave without him knowing you're pregnant."

"If he's considering ending our relationship, then I don't want him involved in the child's life."

"Brennan-"

"I promise I won't do anything until I talk to Booth," she assured Angela quickly.

Angela sighed. That was the best she was going to be able to get. "Okay. I'm sure there's sort of explanation and we'll all be laughing about it next week." Brennan gave her a glared. "Maybe not laughing."

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><p><strong>Don't kill me! Please! I swear I'm a true B&amp;B fan! Just let me know what you think?<strong>


	2. Distance between the Couple

**Okay, so I first have to say you guys are freaking amazing! I had like constant reviews and story alerts coming into my mailbox for the first twenty-four hours and then even more after that! So I have to say a big thank you to everyone! **

**Also, I feel like I wasn't clear on several things. One, I am not changing _anything_ that has aired. This is a what if piece and therefore is using information from the first six seasons of Bones (as made even more clear in the first paragraph of this chapter). Two, I do not have a problem with Hannah now that she and Booth broke up. She didn't know about their relationship until Booth told her. And within like two months of that things between her and Booth were over. So, if she does appear in this story, she will _not _be a villain. Sorry if that disappoints you.**

**Disclaimers in Chapter 1**

**And now onto the story.**

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><p>Brennan knew Angela was right. She couldn't not give Booth a chance to tell her about seeing Hannah; it wouldn't be fair to him. Plus, he had never betrayed her before. He had always been honest with his intentions. She had no reason to doubt him. This was Booth, for God's sake. He had promised to never leave her, to never let her fall. Why would he let her down? He knew she was pregnant. (She had allowed Angela to assume the hypothetical was true in case things didn't work out.) And he had told her several years ago that he wanted to be involved in their child's life, even before they were in a relationship. Logically, that would still be true once they crossed the line.<p>

She spent the entire afternoon waiting until five-thirty came. Booth had promised that he would come and get her then; and if she was working with a set of remains, he would drag her away for dinner. She figured that when she asked how his day was, he would tell her about Hannah. At least, she hoped.

Around four-thirty, though, when Brennan was alone in her office, her phone began to vibrate. "Brennan."

"Hey, Bones, bad news. Hacker piled a lot of paperwork on me; I'm not going to get outta here until late."

"That's okay; we can have dinner late," Brennan told him, looking towards the door.

"I'm talking about being here until like ten tonight. And I don't want you working that long."

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Booth!"

"I know. But you're, you know, pregnant." He whispered the last word.

"I'm perfectly aware of my current condition. Which is why I'll leave in about two hours."

"Whoa, I was going to pick you up in an hour."

"Yes, but since you aren't going to be giving me a ride, I'll call a taxi around six- fifteen."

"Five-fifteen," he said in a tone that sounded as if he was correcting her. He was trying to negotiate with her. She had expected as much.

"Six."

"Five-thirty."

"Seven," she threw in there.

"You can go up. You're supposed to say five-forty-five and me give into that."

"But I don't want to leave at five-forty-five. I'd much rather leave at seven."

"Fine, six-fifteen," he gave in. Brennan smirked; she might not understand some social etiquette, but she knew how to get what she wanted from Booth.

"Okay, you'll come over tonight?" The two of them had spent most nights together since they started their relationship. Booth had wanted to take it slow after their first night, though, so it never went past passionate kisses and sleeping in the same bed. As much as Brennan hated to admit it, she had become accustomed to falling asleep in his arms.

"I wish I could. But I think I'm just going to crash at my place tonight."

Booth only had spent time at his apartment when he had Parker. Though they had let the boy in on their secret relationship, they agreed it was good for Booth to have some time alone with his son. But it was a Tuesday night and he hadn't mentioned getting extra time with Parker. Suddenly, the anxiety from that afternoon set in on her again. Would he really give up what they had for Hannah and her child?

"Oh. Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah." There was some indistinct noise in the background on his end of the phone. "I gotta go. See ya, Bones."

Except Brennan didn't see him the next day or the day after. And every time she called him, he was apparently busy with paperwork and unable to talk. And he every night he went back to his place without so much of an offer to her to join him. And though she tried to ask if anything exciting or unusual had happened to him recently, he would just say paperwork. She had tried to talk to him on multiple occasions, and he seemed as though he was interested in doing anything but. He was being distant, and spending most of his time at work; Brennan was sure he was spending more time in his office than she was in the lab, and that worried her. She had gone as far as trying to drag him out of his office; unfortunately, he had been in meetings every time and Charlie was under strict orders from Booth to send her back to the lab.

Finally, she was done trying. It seemed as though all of the evidence pointed to him wanting to terminate their relationship and hadn't told her yet. The mere idea of it made her heart crush a little. But if that was the way he felt, then she would respect his wishes and move on. After all, that was what he had done for her a year and a half ago when he originally asked for her to give them a chance.

So, one night she packed a rather large bag with clothes and personal items that held fond memories for her. She also sent an email to Angela, Hodgins, Cam, and Sweets saying she was taking an extended leave of absence and she wasn't sure when she would be back and understood if they couldn't keep the job there for her. She didn't tell them why she was leaving, but she did ask for none of them to mention her absence to Booth. And she promised to email them all regularly when she got a new email, and even call them. She just needed to leave Washington for personal reasons. She then sent another email to Angela begging her not to mention that it was Booth's child she was pregnant with nor that she was pregnant at all to Booth; that she would prefer to just tell the rest of the team that she was pregnant from a one-night stand several months ago.

She then took her suitcase and took a taxi to the bus station. She proceeded to pay for a ticket to North Carolina in cash. She was going to go stay near Russ; she assumed Max would come and be near both his children eventually too. After all, she wasn't running from her life, just the one man who had infiltrated every aspect of it.

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><p><strong>Okay, so you guys think this chapter was okay? Let me know if you loved or if there's something you think I can do to make it better. :)<strong>

**Oh and because I've gotten like twenty emails asking this, Booth does know about the baby. Brennan lied to Angela and is keeping the deceit going. Therefore, Angela thinks Booth doesn't know when he really does. I repeat, Booth does know!**


	3. Overview of the Years

**Okay, I added an A/N at the end of the last chapter after I posted it, so in case some of you didn't see it: _Booth knows that Brennan is pregnant!_ She lied to Angela. Yes, I know that is OOC, but I didn't think that it was that outrageous of an idea, because she is doing it so Angela doesn't kill Booth for choosing Hannah over her.**

**Also, yes, Booth was acting weird in the last chapter, but please wait until you hear his side in like chapter 11 (yes I have it outlined through there) before deciding he's a douche. This is not a bash piece. I will admit I would not have had Booth act like that at all before season 6 aired, but I am simply working with what I am given and let's face it, we've seen Booth be a dick in the past year. I'm sorry if you disagree with me, but that's the way I see it. :/**

**Again though, I am not bashing Booth throughout this whole piece. No one bashed Booth for following orders in season 3 did they? He's allowed to make mistakes.**

**Anyway, sorry that was so long. Disclaimers in chapter 1.**

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><p>When she left Washington, she didn't think it would be for so long. She was only going to leave for a few months, a year max. Just until she could move on from Booth. But when Cam had received her email, she had immediately gone to the Jeffersonian's Board of Directors to make sure they would hold open the position. They wouldn't. Therefore, Brennan was stuck without a job waiting for her at the lab. But Cam told her that whenever she wanted to come back, she would do anything she could to give her back her position. She also wished her the best of luck dealing with her personal problems and to let her know if there was anything she could do.<p>

And Sweets told her that whatever was wrong she could talk to him about it in his follow up email. And even though she hadn't technically been his patient in over a year, he was always happy to lend an ear. He considered her a friend and wanted her to be happy like the squints. He, like Cam, asked her to let him know how he could help.

Hodgins didn't ask for her to let him if he could, just what she wanted done. He mentioned that he had many chemicals in his lab that would give off no smell or taste in water, to which Brennan had quickly told him not to use on anybody. Booth might have hurt her, but he still had two children he was helping to raise and she didn't want him in pain. And after all, Hodgins had Angela and Michael now; he couldn't go to prison for federal assault.

Angela asked Brennan what had happened with Booth, and was ready to go knock some sense into him in addition to not telling anybody that her child was Booth's as well. She did point out, however that people were bound to figure it out eventually. Maybe even Booth would find out. Brennan had to stop herself from telling Angela that he truly did know about the child.

They all also mentioned that Booth had asked them if they had any idea where she was, and was ready to get the FBI involved in the search for her. She knew him well enough to know that even if he was unhappy in a relationship with her, he wouldn't stop trying to find her due to some obligation he felt, especially he truly did know about the made a couple of calls to the State Department who in turn called Booth's bosses and thwarted his attempts. Of course, it only made Booth search for her harder. Which is what caused Brennan to change her name to make it more difficult for him to find her. In a matter of days she went from Dr. Temperance Brennan to Dr. Joy Baines.

Brennan was surprised at how protective her friends were of her and the fact that they all agreed not to mention to Booth that they knew she had left or that they had contact her. She wondered what she had done to deserve friends like them. It made her realize that she could not stop all contact with them, leading to more emails to all of them with a new account. Through this form of contact, she told Hodgins, Cam, and Sweets about her pregnancy, and denied all of them when they asked if Booth was the father. She maintained that it was a one-night stand, and they all seemed to accept this for the most part- at least to her virtual face.

Brennan kept her friends up to date on what she was doing in North Carolina, except for changing her name. She also spent more time with Russ and her dad and the rest of her biological family; after all she still had about fifteen years to catch up on with them. But she also made it very clear to the squints that she lived a fair distance away from Russ, because she wouldn't put it past Booth to check someone's email for her. She also kept them up to date on her pregnancy during the remaining thirty-four weeks and let them know when she had given birth to her daughter, Katelyn Christine Angela Baines.

And in return for telling them about her life, Brennan found out what was going on in Washington. A month after she left, they all told her that Hannah was back and involved in Booth's life. Hodgins, Cam, and Sweets all mentioned that she was six months pregnant; while Angela told her that she personally had been giving Booth the cold shoulder. Sure, he was looking for her (they all knew that), but it still bothered them that he had gone back to Hannah within a month of Brennan's disappearance.

They also all told her three months before Katy, Brennan's daughter, was born how Hannah gave birth to Brooklyn Madison Burley. And it seemed as though Hannah and Booth had a fight right before Brooke was born, because Hannah kept Booth's name out of the child's and moved out of his apartment as soon as she could. But she did give him time with Brooke. Actually, Hannah gave him Brooke during the week and took her every other weekend. Apparently, Hannah still wasn't completely ready for motherhood.

Booth was also promoted to an assistant director about a year after Brennan left, leaving a vacant liaison position that was eventually terminated. It left the Jeffersonian alone more, allowing for them to focus on ancient remains instead of the murders they had been focused on for the past seven years.

Cam let Dr. Brennan know when she and Paul got married, just as Sweets did when he and Daisy finally tied the knot. They both invited her to the wedding, only to be told that she wasn't ready to face Booth. They both understood to a degree; though she had denied it, they knew Booth was the real reason that she had left. But no one dared asked him what happened, afraid that they would reveal that they had been talking to her. But they would all bet their career that before Brennan left the two had finally crossed the line between partners and lovers and that Brennan's child was Booth's even if they didn't think he knew about it.

Everybody came down to visit Brennan at one point or another. Angela, Hodgins, and Mike came down for a couple of weeks every summer and usually around Christmas; Cam and Paul came down a couple of times and Brennan and Katy took them out to dinner. And Sweets even brought a pregnant Daisy down when Katy was five to visit her old mentor.

But the limited contact wasn't enough for Brennan, which was why when Cam, Angela, and Hodgins all mentioned that Clark, the intern who had replaced her at her request, was leaving for Canada, she immediately began to look for large apartments in Washington. Not that she mentioned it to any of them; she did turn an application into the Jeffersonian for the open position though. And was asked to go to the lab and interview with the head of medical-legal lab. Apparently, Cam was being respectful to whoever was unknowingly trying to replace her.

So, after seven years of not setting a foot in Washington, Brennan packed her and Katy up and went back to Washington, hoping she still wouldn't have to face her old partner.

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><p><strong>Okay, hopefully I made this chapter a little clearer than the others. I tried really hard to amke sure it was obvious that Booth knew about Katy and everyone is just assuming that he doesn't. Because that is the case.<strong>

**If there are any thoughts or questions, please let me know with a comment or PM.**


	4. Bones in the Lab

**Okay, a few things before I get to the story. 1) I'm sorry if I'm confusing you. I thought I was making myself fairly clear, but from some of the responses, I guess not. So I apologize. 2) Your reviews have made work on the story, even though I've had homework and Flash and Bones to read (if you don't know what Flash and Bones is, it's Kathy Reich's newest book. And if you don't know who that is, then you need to read the names that flash at the bottom of the screen at the beginning of every Bones episode ;P). 3) This chapter is mostly from Cam's POV, so it's her thoughts and opinions meaning not everything is necessarily correct or true. So, if it contradicts something you know to be a fact from the previous three chapters, that's why. It's also my first time writing from her POV, so I'm a little worried.**

**I also have noticed how fans are much more loyal to Brennan than Booth. Like even looking back at season 5 when she was casually seeing Hacker, we didn't give her as much crap as we did Booth for that marine biologist... Idk, I just thought it was interesting.**

**Anyway, disclaimers in chapter 1. Let the story continue.**

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><p>Cam couldn't believe that she had forgotten that she had an appointment today! She was running late because Paul's car had broken down Wednesday night and she had to drop him off on her way to work. Of course, she hit all of the red lights she could which was fine or so she thought. She was alone at the lab while they were between anthropologists and Angela and Hodgins had taken Mike to Disneyworld for his birthday. Sure, it was a couple of months late, but it wasn't like they ever did anything normally. Cam had been patiently listening to the radio when a guard at the lab had called saying a Joy Baines was waiting for her. Of course Cam asked for the guard to stall her while she tried to get there.<p>

Ever since the application had floated across her desk last week, she had been procrastinating, hoping eventually this woman would just give up on the job. Cam didn't want to hire her, but she had no reason not to. She had worked with Dr. Brennan and Daisy in the Maluku Island project, but that was the only project she knew on the short list of past employment though it was a very long list. There were some references listed too; according to the application, this was the best anthropologist for the lab with the exception of Dr. Brennan of course. God, how much everybody wanted her back. They had all agreed to mention the opening position to Dr. Brennan. But there was no way to know if Dr. Brennan was coming back yet, so she might as well interview this Dr. Baines. She'd wait until Angela and Hodgins got back before making any final decisions.

When Cam finally got to the lab, she saw the security guard that had called her earlier. "Micah, where's Dr. Baines?" Cam asked.

"Dr. Who? Oh, Dr. Baines!" Cam gave him a look. Had he seriously forgotten about the woman he had called her about fifteen minutes earlier? "She said that she would go wait in your office for you."

"You let an unauthorized person back into the lab?" Micah was a good employee; he had never been so reckless. What the hell was going through his head? Cam practically ran to her office.

But as soon as she stepped foot in the actual lab, she found a familiar sight. There was Dr. Brennan with her hair pulled back standing on the platform looking over the most recent body she was examining. Sure, Clark had already documented some injuries he could see in the x-rays, but there was nothing like having Dr. Brennan look at the body. And the fact that Brennan was standing on the platform at all was a miracle in itself.

"You know, this interview isn't necessary, Dr. Brennan," Cam told her swiping her card as she came onto the platform.

Brennan jumped at the sound of her voice before turning around and smiling. "I was just looking at the victim. He looks like he's been dead for over a century if the amount of deterioration if strictly from decomposition."

"He's a Civil War soldier. How did you even get up on the platform?" Cam asked.

Brennan dug in her pocket and pulled out a card with the Jeffersonian logo on it.

"You never turned in your card?"

"No, I left with such short notice I didn't have a chance. I was surprised that it still worked. You really should update the security more often."

"I'll keep that in mind." The truth was that she didn't feel comfortable changing the cards without being able to give on to Dr. Brennan; so she had postponed the task for too long. But no one else had seemed to notice.

The sound of the sliding, glass doors behind Cam caught both of their attention. Micah walked in, holding a little girl's hand. Her shoulder length, dark brown hair was braided and her bright, blue eyes stared around the lab in amazement. Her square jaw was open just a little in wonder. There was no doubt in Cam's mind that Katy was in awe of the lab, much like her mother probably was when she first entered it. When the little girl saw her mother, she began to run towards her.

"Mommy!" Brennan immediately went to the bottom of the steps, so that her daughter would not set off the alarm. She picked Katy up, and held her. Cam immediately blocked Katy's view of the body.

"Sorry, Dr. Brennan," Micah told her. "She said that she really wanted to see you, and was about to throw a temper tantrum in the middle of the hall. I thought you'd prefer if she came to see you."

"It's fine," she replied, before turning to her daughter. "What have I told you about throwing temper tantrums to get what you want?"

"That it won't work," the six year old answered. "But it always seems to."

Cam had to stifle a laugh. There was some form of logic in the girl's rationality. Brennan ignored her and continued to speak to Katy, "It might work now, but in a few years it will only irritate others and they won't give you what you want. Plus, you know there is nothing wrong and it may cause unwarranted concern from adults. If you need something you should ask for it politely."

"But what if they say no?" Cam supposed she shouldn't be shocked the girl understood everything Brennan had said; but what six years old knows the mean of unwarranted?

"Then there is a reason, and you need to respect it."

"But what it's a stupid reason?"

"Katy, I told you not to say stupid."

Katy let out a sigh. "Mommy," she said in a tone that Cam swore she had heard before. But then Katy's eyes fell on Cam and a spark of recognition filled her eyes. "I know you."

"I'm Cam. I came to visit you and your mom last summer."

"You're married to the baby doctor," Katy said. Cam was surprised; that was how Paul had explained his job to the young girl, since, though Brennan assured them that Katy knew how babies were made, they weren't going to explain his job to her.

"I am."

Katy looked at Cam for a moment like she was studying her before nodding. "You're nice. I like you."

"I like you, too," Cam told her with a smile. Though Katy looked like her mom and had her intelligence, she definitely was more personable. She had a smile that was going to have boys tripping themselves in a few years, too.

"Katy, why don't you go with Micah while I finish talking with Cam? We're talking about adult things that you would find boring."

"Okay," she sighed.

"And Micah?" Dr. Brennan looked to him. "You can take her to the daycare center in the museum. It might be good for her to interact with some of the other kids."

"Will do, Doc." He took Katy by the hand and left the lab.

They weren't gone thirty seconds when Brennan asked Cam, "Is there any paperwork I need to fill out or can I get started working?"

_Some things will never change_, Cam thought with a smile. "Most of the paperwork is administrative, since you're just coming back to work for us. And before you can help us on any cases, Sweets will have to interview you. Did he know you were coming?"

"No. I decided not to tell anybody I was returning. I would however like to be employed under the name Joy Baines. Will that change things?"

"Only if you have a new social security number."

"That would be illegal. Why would I need a new social security number anyway?"

"Why do you need a new name?"

"Because I would prefer to abstain from talking to Booth for as long as possible."

"He could look up your social security number. He's arrested you before, and it would be in the file."

"I had an old friend from the State Department classify it. Otherwise, there is a rather high likelihood he would already be here."

Cam had to admit that was true. Hell, he'd have picked her up at the airport or in front of her house in North Carolina if he had any idea where she had been for the past seven years. "He's missed you a lot, you know."

"So you and Sweets have mentioned in your emails. Is there anything I can do before Sweets evaluates me?"

Cam chose to ignore the question and respond with her own. "What happened between you and Booth?"

"Nothing. He had a chance to renew his relationship with Hannah, so I allowed him the opportunity. It's that simple. Am I allowed to work in bones storage?"

"Dr. Brennan, I've been asking these questions since you left. If you answer them then you'll be able to get to work faster. So, you and Booth were in a romantic relationship?" Cam could really care less about work at the moment. She wanted to know why one of her friends had moved away for so long. And if it was Booth's fault, then she would make him admit it at lunch tomorrow. Otherwise, she would pester Brennan what made her leave. Plus, she was pretty sure that she was right.

Brennan hesitated. "Yes. Though, it was not as serious as I believed it to be."

Cam strongly doubted that. If anything, it was probably more serious than Dr. Brennan thought. She had been listening to Booth first rant, then admire Dr. Brennan for almost fifteen years. No way it wasn't serious, not with Booth. He was still hung up on her for God's sake. But it also meant that Brennan had seen something between Booth and Hannah that he had neglected to tell Cam when she questioned him after she first left. Something that might explain why he was back with Hannah after a month of Brennan's disappearance- not that he had been over the anthropologist, mind you.

"Why made you think that?"

"He and Hannah were discussing their child at lunch one day and Booth never mentioned it to me. In fact, he began to avoid me. Logic dictates that he was making plans for a relationship after ours. That in conjunction with Katy, I thought some time out of the city would be useful. I just didn't expect for it to be for seven years."

"But Katy isn't Booth's?"

"Booth doesn't know about Katy. She is the product of a one-night stand. He knows nothing about her, and I'd like to keep it that way." It was the same thing she had been telling Cam for years about Katy and her relationship with Booth. Cam still had her suspicions, but like always, let Dr. Brennan think she was getting away with it. And despite what the good bone doctor said, Cam knew Brennan was ready for some confrontation with Booth; she wouldn't be back here otherwise. And even though Booth might not make a daily visit to the lab anymore, he stopped by every few months or so. Cam just hoped she was around next time he came to say hi.

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><p><strong>Thoughts and opinions are welcomed. I hope this chapter was less confusing. And I hope you guys like Katy! <strong>


	5. Judgment in the Assumption

**Okay, so once again, thank you to everyone who reviewed! As stated previously, you guys are amazing! :)  
>Some of you are still a little confused as to what's going though. If you are please send me a PM and I'll explain. But I also think it might be good for me to actually get a beta, because I know what's going on and the story makes sense to me. So if anyone would be interested in being a beta, let me know. (It would mean you got to the chapters sooner if that's incentive for anyone...)<strong>

**My A/N rant is done. Here's the story:**

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><p>The rest of the day, Brennan spent in bone storage which didn't surprise Cam in the least. She had spent the past seven years living off the money from her books, never given the opportunity to dabble in her true passion. Though that didn't mean her abilities had diminished at all. In fact, if she hadn't left right at five, Cam would have sworn nothing had changed at all, professionally anyway.<p>

Before Cam left for the day, she did make a call to Sweets informing him that she had hired a new forensic anthropologist. She was kind of disappointed she missed hearing his reaction, but that was part of the burden of leaving a voice message. But Cam needed him to come and interview 'Joy Baines' so she could work on any FBI bodies that came to the lab. Plus, Cam needed somebody else to know that Dr. Brennan was back in town.

The following morning Cam wasn't surprised that Dr. Brennan beat her to the lab and was already buried deep in bone storage. Cam considered let her know she was at the lab before going to do some administrative work and then do a dissection before lunch. (Cam would avoided mentioning it was with Booth.) But in the end, just went right to work.

As she was cleaning up from the autopsy, there was a knock at her office door. She assumed it was Dr. Brennan, coming to tell her she was going to lunch; however instead she looked up to see a perturbed Sweets standing there.

"You hired a forensic anthropologist while Angela and Hodgins are gone?" he practically yelled at her.

"Yes, I did. She was qualified for the job, so unless you flunk her on the psych test for the FBI she has the job."

"What happened to trying to get Dr. Brennan to take the job? I thought that was the plan!" Cam couldn't blame him for being upset, even if it was over nothing. But this was her job, not his. If the situation was real, she would be pissed he was telling her how to act. So, she acted the part.

"I can't not hire a qualified forensic anthropologist in hopes Dr. Brennan will come back. She hasn't shown any interest in coming back in any of the email I've gotten. How about you?"

"Well, no. But we said we'd give her a couple of weeks. You gave her like three days!"

"Sweets, this isn't your job. It's mine. And I have confidence in this woman. And before you pass judgment on her, maybe you should actually talk to her. She's in bone storage right now, and I imagine she'll be there for a while. So go evaluate her, and then either don't give her FBI clearance and I'll fire her or get off my back. I can handle Hodgins and Angela, but Dr. Baines is one of the most qualified for this job and I don't want her not given an opportunity because we're only looking for one anthropologist who might not even be interested in working here anymore."

Sweets looked at her, and a little guilt began to show. "I didn't think about it that way."

Cam nodded, happy that she was able to convince Sweets she was actually angry. "Well, now you have. And while you go talk to Dr. Baines, I'm going out to lunch."

As she headed out the door, Sweets told her to tell Paul hi for him.

"I'm having lunch with Booth."

That caught Sweets' attention. "You know he's just going to ask you about Dr. Baines when he finds out."

"Well, you know just as well as I do that it's his fault that we have to hire her."

"He had nothing to do with Clark leaving," Sweets pointed out.

"But everything with Dr. Brennan," she countered.

"Neither of them have admitted it."

"They didn't ever admit they loved each other either. Yet _you_ decided they were in love a good year and a half before they started being in whatever type of relationship they were in when she left."

"Booth won't talk about the last few months, and neither will Dr. Brennan. At least not really."

"That's because you're a shrink," Cam pointed out.

"It's my job."

"And right now your job is to go talk to Dr. Baines." And Cam walked out of the lab with that.

Sweets sighed. He had really wanted Dr. Brennan to come back. But Cam was right; he couldn't blame Dr. Baines for wanting to apply here. It was the Jeffersonian after all. And if she was qualified, Cam should hire her. He began to wander down to bone storage, almost literally dragging his feet.

He had all but decided to hate this woman when he got to Limbo. When he was at the top of the steps, he scanned to see if he could see the new anthropologist. When he had no luck, he called, "Dr. Baines? Are you down here?"

"Let me put up these remains and I'll be there in a minute, Sweets."

His ears perked up at the voice and a smile slowly spread across his face as he began to half run down the steps like a twelve year old on Christmas morning. "Dr. Brennan?"

She came out right as he got to the bottom of the stairs. "Yes?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I work here. I don't remember that question on the last psychological evaluation."

"Psych evaluation? Wait, then who's Dr. Baines?"

"I am, legally. I changed my name when I was living in North Carolina." It suddenly made sense to Sweets why Cam hired Dr. Baines with no else around. And she played him like a fool when he arrived in her office accusing her of giving up on Dr. Brennan.

"So you're staying in DC now?"

"Yes. I found that I missed everyone more than I expected I would."

"Including Booth?"

"Why do you and Cam repeatedly bring up Booth? He's no longer part of my life."

"He's Katy's dad," Sweets said.

She had never really been able to convince Sweets of her lie. Everyone else had accepted it, or at least let her believe they did, except for him. "I have never said that."

"No, you've told us a one-night stand. But it was about the time you and Booth started seeing each other, and you refuse to give Katy's father name."

"If I tell you his name, will you stop saying it's Booth?"

Sweets shrugged. It mostly depended on who the man was. "If I believe you."

"Bobby Kent." And for some reason that name sounded familiar to Sweets. In fact, it sounded like a common undercover name. In fact, he was pretty sure that Booth used that name at some point...

"Bobby short for Robert?"

"I assume so."

"And where did you meet?"

"A lecture I gave."

"At American University?"

"Yes."

"On defleshing?" Sweets asked.

"Yes."

"Why was he there?"

"He was looking for me to help solve-" she stopped midsentence and Sweets knew he had her.

"Solve Gemma Arington's case?"

"Fine, Booth is her father. But I would appreciate it if Cam, Hodgins, and especially Booth didn't find out."

"Does Booth know you're back?"

"No, and I would like for it to remain that way."

Sweets nodded slightly disappointed. "Right."

"So, the pointless evaluation?"

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><p><strong>Oh, yeah. Disclaimers in chapter 1. :)<strong>

**And reviews are welcomed.**


	6. Discovery in the Diner

**Same stuff as usual. Disclaimers in chapter 1.**

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><p>Cam walked into the Royal Diner and saw Booth sitting at the bar. It was where he always sat now; he refused to sit at the different tables because he still considered it to be his Brennan's spot. Cam went and sat down next to him, as he drank from a cup of coffee.<p>

"Hey, Cam."

"Seeley. Getting started without me?" she asked motioning towards the coffee.

"I didn't think you'd mind if I had a cup. It's been a long day. Rebecca called me about four o'clock this morning to let me know that Parker was sneaking in. I thought he knew better…"

"He's a seventeen year old boy; he's supposed to get into some trouble. And we both know that he's a good kid."

"I know. But it's hard when I still think of him as a little kid, and his biggest concern was what sport he wanted to play. Now I have to worry about him sneaking out to do God knows what."

Cam sighed. "It's hard to watch them grow up. I still think of Michelle as the six year old I left when Andrew and I broke up."

"Please tell me girls are easier," Booth begged. Cam laughed; she hadn't been around for most of Michelle's life, but she had been a teenager at one point and watched her sister grow up as well.

"Less fist fights and more drama. But you still have a few years before Brooke gets to be that age."

"Yeah. But she's getting ready for school and nervous about if she'll make friends."

"She'll be fine. She's really out going, just like her dad," Cam told him with a nudge. Booth gave a forced half smile.

"Let's hope that's a good thing. I mean, what if the other kids pick on her?"

Cam's brow furrowed. She didn't remember him being this worried about Parker starting school. Then again, this was his little girl. "They have no reason to pick on her."

"But most of the kids are going to think they're better than everyone, because they come from rich families."

"Since when do all public school kids come from rich families?" Last time Cam checked, that wasn't the case. Sure there were some rich families, but more average families and lower class.

"They don't. Hannah enrolled her at that new private school, Johnson Elementary."

"Same one that Mike goes to?" Cam asked surprised. Booth hated private schools. Actually he hated the parents who sent their kids there. Of course, he liked Angela and Hodgins, when they talked to him that is. And Dr. Brennan. Oh God, she had mentioned sending Katy there sometime yesterday. This was going to be interesting.

"Yeah. She said that she would pay for it. I told her that Parker had a good education with public school, but she pointed out that he had all the squints. And I don't think Angela and Hodgins would be very willing to help Brooke out. Hell, I don't think either one of them would do me a personal favor at this point."

Cam had to admit he was probably right. Of course, Angela had always been loyal to Brennan, and since she decided that Booth left the anthropologist for Hannah, she had been giving him the cold shoulder. And most likely she had spilled to Hodgins at some point what had happened. That and Hodgins and Dr. Brennan might not have shown it all the time, but they were extremely close. More similar than most realized. No wonder the married couple had been closed off to Booth. But Cam had a feeling that there was more to the story. She had tried to get it out of him before, but every time she had tried, Booth would tell her to drop it.

"You know why they're mad," Cam said, honestly not knowing if he did. But she at least had to try. Especially with Dr. Brennan being back.

"I guessed that it was because they blame me for Dr. Brennan leaving." Booth hadn't actually called Dr. Brennan 'Bones' since she left. Cam was pretty sure that he was trying to distance himself from the memory of Dr. Brennan. It was a very Brennan type tactic. However, when he found out about Katy, she was pretty sure that all hell would break lose. And it was going to end up happening eventually if the two girls were going to school together. "But it's not like I did anything to send her away. I loved her, Cam; I still do."

Cam had to keep her mouth closed, because it was about ready to fall to the ground. Booth had been so closed off about her. And he chose _now_ to open back up? And to start off by sitting here telling Cam that he loved Dr. Brennan. Last time he had even acknowledged the idea of her, _Cam _had been the one to verbalize it. But then there was also the fact that he didn't even seem to consider Hannah in the possible reasons that Dr. Brennan left was pissing Cam off. And she was barely involved."You don't think that getting back together with Hannah had anything to do with it?"

Booth looked up at her in shock. "I have never cheated on a woman, Cam. Never. You know that. Why would I start with the most important relationship of my life? Plus, I only saw Hannah once in the time we were dating and never had a chance to tell Brennan. I guess she… she just freaked out. I guess we were just going too fast or something. I mean we both knew it was going to happen, but I mean we got together and then… I don't know."

Cam smirked. He had always denied anything was going between him and Dr. Brennan when she left. But apparently, the early morning wake-up and distress of Parker begin a teenager and Brooke starting school was really getting to him. "I knew it."

She had always suspected it, but to have both of them _finally_ admit it her with thirty-six hours of each other was somewhat satisfying, if not a little frustrating. Why had they waited for so long to just be honest with everybody else?

Booth replayed his words before shaking his head. "Shit. Cam, I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention that to anyone."

"Relax, Seeley; everyone already knows." And if Dr. Brennan hasn't directly told them, they've been assuming it.

"Great. Just what I need, rumors."

"Rumors that are true," Cam pointed out. "What do you mean she freaked out?"

Booth sighed. "I'm going to tell you Cam, but you can't tell anyone else. Not Angela, Hodgins, Clark, anyone because they'll flip out."

Cam agreed, wanting to know what Booth was attributing Brennan's seven year flight to.

"Well, we made love the night that Vincent was shot. And then we decided to take it slow after that. You know build up to it, so we were both ready. But the night Mike was born she told me that she was, well, pregnant and I was the father."

Cam felt her head explode. For the past seven years, she had listened to Dr. Brennan plea for no one to tell Booth about Katy, because she didn't want him knowing about the one night stand. They had all assumed it was with Booth. And then when she found out he was getting back together with Hannah, she couldn't take it and left without telling him she was with child. But here Booth was, telling her that he they were in an actual relationship and he knew he had another child out there. One that Brennan was raising. "Oh my God."

"Yeah."

The fell into a silence that was covered up by the sounds of the diner. Booth felt like a burden had been lifted. He had kept that a secret for seven years, because Brennan had wanted to wait until she got through the first trimester to start telling everyone. And then once she left, Booth didn't think it was right to tell everybody and have them not only worrying about a child in addition to her.

Okay, he had told Hannah when she asked for him to come back because she had asked what had changed. And then, like last time when his heart had been broken, Hannah had been there. But he refused to engage in any romantic relationship with her again. But Hannah hadn't been able to find an apartment, so he had let her stay at his place until the baby was born. That didn't mean he would do anything he might regret when Brennan came back. He wouldn't abandon her, not again. Especially not when there was a child involved. His second and youngest child.

Booth was brought out of his headspace when Cam stated, "By the way, Clark moved to Canada. So don't worry about him finding any of this out."

Booth just stared at her before taking a deep breath. "So, that means you have to hire someone to replace her."

Cam nodded, noticing the slip in the pronoun. "Part of the job."

"I think you should have Sweets talk to whoever you consider hiring. You know, for the psych profile they have to pass to work with the FBI."

"Already planning on it." If only she could tell him that Sweets was already talking to Clark's mentor.


	7. Surprises in the Morning

**100 reviews! You guys rock! I think that's the fast I've ever gotten to 100! It made me inspired to write a little more. Meaning I'm a little ahead of what I've posted. Good for you guys because it means more routine updates. :)**

**Disclaimer in chapter 1.**

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><p>When Cam left from lunch with Booth, she had a text message from Dr. Brennan that Sweets wanted to talk to her in a "more relaxed atmosphere" so they were going out to lunch. Plus, she had already talked to Cam about leaving early to buy Katy school supplies for the following week. And Cam didn't know exactly where Dr. Brennan was currently living since she hadn't yet found a house, so she couldn't go speak to her in person. And talking about Katy being Booth's daughter and him knowing he had another child was not one to have over the phone or in front of the girl.<p>

So Cam waited as patiently as possible for Monday to roll around, and it wasn't just to discuss the discovery of Katy's lineage; Angela and Hodgins came back and Cam didn't think telling them about hiring an anthropologist over the phone was a good idea. Especially if they didn't let her explain who it was.

Cam was surprised when she beat Dr. Brennan into the office at nine o'clock, not so much Angela and Hodgins. She did some paperwork as she waited for the drama of the day to start, checking her watch every five minutes. At nine-thirty, she heard the sound of her friends coming into the lab, so she went out to greet them.

"Hey, guys; how was your vacation?"

"Good. Weird not seeing Brennan for a change, but I think Mike liked Disneyworld," Angela answer.

"As did Angie," Hodgins smirked. "How were things here?"

"Fine," Cam admitted.

"Anything exciting?" Angela asked.

"I had lunch with Booth yesterday. Sweets stopped by too."

"Why did he stop by?"

"Before I tell you, you both have to promise to hear me out." That was all it took for Angela to understand what Cam had done.

"Oh my God. Cam, you didn't hire someone to replace Clark. Not without us approving."

"Angela, you would have done the same thing in my position."

Hodgins just looked at his boss. "You can't be serious."

"Hodgins-"

"That is so not cool, Cam. What happened to giving Dr. B some time to think about coming back?"

"If you two would just let me explain-"

"How could you hire the first person to interview?"

"And then not bother telling us until we came back."

Cam opened her mouth to tell them it was Dr. Brennan, but they didn't give her a chance to speak.

"What happens if this person isn't as good as Bren or Clark? What if none of us get along with them?" Cam saw the sliding doors open and Dr. Brennan step into the lab. She figured she should try to wrap things up with Angela and Hodgins and go talk to Dr. Brennan.

"Angela, you will. It's-"

"You can't know how either of us will act towards them," Hodgins pointed out.

"Towards who?" Brennan asked coming behind them. Angela and Hodgins both spun around, shock overtaking their faces.

"As I was trying to tell you," Cam explained. "I'd like to introduce you to our new forensic anthropologist, _Dr. Joy Baines_."

"You're back?" Angela asked with a laugh in her voice and her friend in her arms.

"Yes. I came back while you two were on vacation."

"Good, the lab hasn't been the same without you," Hodgins told her as they hugged.

"As you've told me every time you've come to visit."

"What's with the new name?"

"I doubt seven years old makes it a new name, but I have been using it to avoid Booth." Both Angela and Hodgins nodded, and Cam wondered if they knew what happened in the relationship.

"Where's Katy? I didn't think you'd let her out of your sight."

"School started today."

"So did Mike's."

"I am aware. They go to the same school."

Angela shook her head. "Of course they do. You know this means we're carpooling, right?"

"I had assumed as much," Brennan smiled.

"I'm still in shock that you and Katy moved back up here without telling me!"

"I wanted to surprise everyone."

"You sure did that, Dr. Brennan."

The friends continued to chat for a while, at least until Brennan announced that she was going to continue to go work in limbo. At which point, Hodgins and Angela both began to head to their lab. Cam, however, followed Dr. Brennan to hers which didn't go unnoticed by Brennan.

"Is there something I can help you with, Cam?" she asked as she put her things away.

"I told you I was having lunch with Booth Friday, right?"

Brennan looked up with fear on her face. "You didn't tell him I was back did you?"

"No just that we were looking for a new anthropologist. As far as he knows you could be on the other side of the world. With his child."

Brennan looked at Cam. "You told him?"

"No. He told me. And he also mentioned that one-night stand you had was more of relationship that he was trying not to move too quickly after the first night. What I can't figure out is why you told all of us he didn't know."

"I assumed all of you would guess that Katy was Booth's daughter no matter what I told you. Booth was choosing Hannah and her daughter over Katy and me. Plus, I just told Angela that he was the father. But I didn't want her to harm him because he was thinking about getting back together with Hannah."

"Why didn't you talk to him about it?"

"I tried, but he became distant. He began to avoid me, which is a sign of hiding something. Since Hannah was telling him that she was pregnant, I assumed he was trying to find a way to explain to me that he was leaving me for her. I thought I would save him the trouble."

Cam sighed. "Dr. Brennan, ever since I met you, you've warned me not to make assumptions without evidence. Where is the evidence that Booth was actually going to leave?"

"I just explained-"

"No, you said he had been distant. But that doesn't mean anything without an explanation. And I've seen Booth over the few years, and despite what Angela or Hodgins think, he's been messed up since you left. If it wasn't for Parker and Brooke, I'm pretty sure he would have started gambling again. So, I'm not sure how accurate whatever conclusions you made when left were."

"Cam, I did what I thought was best for me and Katy. That's the most I could do. And if he was having any second thoughts-"

"But I don't think he was!" Cam protested.

Brennan sighed. "Maybe you're correct. But I can't believe I took his child away from him for no reason and live with myself. And all of the evidence that I've seen has supported my theory."

"So, you're going to assume Booth has been an asshole for the past seven years to feel less guilty? I never took you for one to hurt those you care about."

Cam turned around and walked back into her office. But Brennan wasn't finished, and now she was angry. "I'm trying to protect my daughter! I refuse to let either one of her parents abandon her!"

"So you aren't even going to give her father a chance to meet her?"

"He replaced us. He knew I was pregnant when he agreed to be with Hannah."

"No, he saw her once."

"But he was considering leaving me to be with her after that one time."

"That's not what I understood from him."

"He's had seven years to change the story."

"So have you."

"You can compare my version of events to Angela's if you would like, but I would request that you not mention Booth knowing Katy is his daughter to her."

If it was anyone else, Cam probably would have gone to talk to Angela that minute to confirm the story. But if Dr. Brennan was telling her someone vouch for her, then it meant that was truly what she believed. And once she had a belief she didn't change it for anyone or anything. Except Booth.

"You really believe he was going to get back together with Hannah whether you were here or not."

"He did once. People don't change; history has shown people tend to take the same course of action multiple times before they even consider changing it."

Cam took a breath, realizing there was no way of convincing her to go speak to Booth. She was assuming Booth would before as any culture. But Cam didn't know if Booth had ever been a perfect cookie-cutter image. At least not since he had gotten out of the army the first time. But once Dr. Brennan's mind was made up, God help whoever tried to change it. "Fine. But eventually you are going to have to face him."

"I know. Are you going to tell Booth that I'm back?"

"Not until you're ready."

"Thank you, Cam." Brennan turned to walk away, but Cam had one piece of advice left.

"The longer you wait to see him, the harder it's going to be."

Brennan continued walking as if she didn't hear her.


	8. Friends in the Replacement

**Okay, this is definitely my favorite chapter I have so far... And all it is fluff- but not B&B kind. Actually, there are no characters from the show in this chapter. But there's more Katy, so it balances out, right?**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1.**

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><p>Katy looked around the classroom as soon as her mom left. She saw a lot of other kids standing around, and they were looking back and forth as if they were waiting for something to do. But whenever Katy tried to talk to them, they just looked at her like she was weird.<p>

She noticed that they all were wearing similar clothes. Really nice t-shirts that had buttons and khaki pants for the boys and all of the girls were wearing dresses that her mom told her were for special occasions like when Uncle Russ and Aunt Amy got married again. (Katy still didn't understand why they got married again when they were already married, but she knew it was a good thing.) Katy was wearing her favorite blue dress with her hair in pigtails, but all the other kids were acting like she was wearing a sweaty t-shirt to a marriage ceremony.

She was just about to give up on making friends for the day when she heard someone else sigh. She turned around to see a blonde girl wearing a light brown dress. It wasn't as fancy as the other girls in the class, more like Katy's.

"Something wrong?" Katy asked the blonde girl.

"Everyone's being a meanie-butt! They won't talk to me!"

"Me either. Why won't they talk to you?"

"I dunno. What about you?"

"I don't know either. Do I smell bad or something?"

The blonde girl came over and smelled Katy's dress. "Nope. Do I?"

Katy returned the action before shaking her head. "No."

"Maybe they're just snobby."

"Or shy," Katy added. She didn't like to think people were mean. Her mommy taught her not to judge people either (though she was finding that kinda hard right now).

The girl looked over at the group which had actually moved away from them and actually talking to each other now. "They aren't shy with each other."

"Okay, maybe they just don't like us, then."

"But we haven't done anything and we don't smell bad! Why wouldn't they like us?"

"Sometimes people just don't like people. We're weird like that."

"We?" the blonde asked. "What did I do?"

"We're people, so we've got to be weird."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Yes it does."

"Nu-uh!"

"Uh- huh!"

"Maybe it does for you but no one else."

"Well, Mommy always says I'm smarter than most people."

"Hey!"

"I'm not saying you aren't smart," Katy assured the other girl. "I'm sure you are too. Otherwise, you'd be acting like them."

The girl didn't look convince but nodded. "Okay."

Suddenly a young woman entered the room. "Class, settle down. Settle down." After about five minutes of trying to get the six year olds to pay attention, the woman finally had the sixteen kids circled around her. "Okay, I'm your teacher Ms. Haddoes. And welcome to Johnson Elementary. I'm going to assign you all seats but you can wander around the classroom as long as you are involved in some educational activity."

"What's educatanol?" a boy with light brown hair wearing a purple shirt asked.

"It means you're learning while doing it," Katy announced to the class. The boy and his group of new friends all glared at her, but she just shrugged it off.

"Very good," the teacher praised her before turning back to the rest of the class. "You'll sit in groups of two. So, Doug Anderson this is going to be your spot and your partner is Jennifer Arrington. Jennifer you'll be sitting here."

The boy with a purple shirt stepped forward along with another girl in his cluster.

"Oh, let me get through everybody before you sit down. Okay, next, we have Katelyn Baines." Katy had a knot in her stomach. What if her partner hated her? Could she convince them she was nice enough to cover up for whatever they didn't like about her?

"And your partner is Brooklyn Burley. And then there is Melvin Byers and-"

"Hey," the blonde girl whispered in Katy's ear, "do you know who Katelyn is?"

"Yeah, me," she whispered backed. "Are you Brooklyn?"

"Brooke," she corrected.

"Katy."

"Girls," Ms. Haddoes called to them. "I know you might already know your partner, but not everyone does. And you don't whisper as quietly as you think."

"Sorry, Ms. Haddoes," they answered in unison before looking at each other and smiling when their teacher's back was turned.

As the day passed, Katy and Brooke realized how well they got along; of course, it helped that they agreed everyone in the class was mean, and for some reason didn't like them, but still, they had formed a friendship by recess. During the playtime however they had a little trouble with some of the other kids (like Doug Anderson) calling them names, but Katy shut them up by calling them inane.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Brooke asked into her ear.

"I don't know, but Mommy's used it before when she was annoyed with someone but didn't want me to know."

But other than that, Brooke and Katy were able to ignore the comments made about them and evil glares. After lunch (which followed recess), Ms. Haddoes gave the kids an assignment. "I want you to ask your new friend about their family. If they have any brothers and sisters, a pet, even aunts, uncles and grandparents if you want. And then before everyone leaves today, we'll present our partner's family to the class."

Immediately Katy turned to Brooke. "Do you live with your mommy and daddy?"

"Mostly with my daddy. Mommy works a lot, so I only see her on the weekends. What about you?"

"I live with my mommy."

"When do you see your daddy?"

"I don't have one."

Brooke's eyebrows came together and she looked really confused. "But you have to have a daddy. It takes a mommy and a daddy to have a baby."

Katy shook her head. "Nu-uh. It takes a man's sperm and a woman's egg-"

"Katy, what are you talking about?" Ms. Haddoes cut her off. She had been walking by when she heard the conversation and definitely didn't find it appropriate for a first grader to be talking about.

"How babies are made. Brooke said it takes a mommy and a daddy, but it doesn't have to be-"

"Stop. You shouldn't talk about things like that."

"Why?"

"Because it's not appropriate."

"Why?"

"Because Brooke's parents might not want her knowing the details of how babies are made."

Katy looked over at her friend. "You parents don't want you to know how babies are made?"

"I dunno."

"Then let's not talk about it," Ms. Haddoes gently commanded before walking away.

Once she was far enough, Brooke leaned over to Katy and asked, "What's a sperm?"

"I dunno. Mommy didn't explain it to me."

"I'll ask my daddy or one of his friends. They're smart."

"Okay… Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Katy asked trying to get back on task.

"I got a big brother! His name is Parker and he's really old. Not like mommy and daddy old, but still old."

"How old is he?"

"Seventeen!"

"Wow."

"What about you?"

"I'm six."

"Noooo, silly, do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Nope. Just me… Actually Mommy said something once about a big brother, but I think she was talking about Uncle Russ. That's _her_ big brother."

"Oh, okay. I've got an Uncle Jared and Aunt Padme, but that's it."

"I've got an Aunt Amy. And then I have two cousins. But they aren't really my cousins because they aren't Uncle Russ's kids."

"I've just got Parker."

"So you have your Mommy and Daddy and Parker. And then an Uncle Jared and Aunt Padme?"

"And Pops! He's my daddy's grandpa! But you've got a Mommy and Uncle Ross and Aunt Amy and two cousins that aren't your cousins."

"Emma and Hayley. And Grandpa! Oh then there are my mommy's cousins too."

"You've got a big family!"

"Yep."

They began to tell each other details about their families. Katy was particularly interested in what it would be like to have an older brother and dad, while Brooke wanted to know more about having cousins. They were nowhere near finished talking when Ms. Haddoes instructed the class to take a seat and listen to the presentations which went as smoothly as one could hope a group of first graders to be. And as soon as they were finished, then Ms. Haddoes allowed for parents to come in and take their children home for the day.

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><p><strong>Okay, I have to ask what everyone thought of Katy, Brooke, and their relationship.<strong>


	9. B&B in the Lab

**Hey, everybody! You get a super long chapter today... Mostly to make up for the really short one that's going to come sometime next week. But enjoy what you can get, right? Anyway, it was funny how so many of you all decided that I should have B&B meet at a parent night or teacher conference or something. However, I've got other things planned for our favorite duo. Anyway, one with the story.**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1**

* * *

><p>Cam was in the middle of doing some more paper work that allowed Dr. Brennan to return to the lab Monday afternoon. Her body count for the day was three, and she still had a couple more that the FBI was asking her to do (why they didn't just send them to Quantico was a mystery to her). But she really needed to finish up Dr. Brennan's paperwork so she could officially work at the lab again. She had chosen to work on the latter first for obvious reasons.<p>

Of course, that meant distractions were coming at every available opportunity. First Hodgins had a chemical spill. Actually it wasn't so much of a spill as an overflow; he had gone out of the room to talk to Angela for a minute and lost track of time and his solution had boiled over. Then the FBI called asking if she would look at a body for them in the morning, to which she said she couldn't guarantee. Then Sweets called not even fifteen minutes later asking how deep Dr. Brennan's new identity was and if it would hold up to an FBI background check to which Cam told him to ask Dr. Brennan.

She just hung up with the psychologist when her phone rang for a third time in a matter of an hour. And again, it was a number from the FBI. "What?" she snapped, never looking up from the sheet of paper.

"Cam, I need a huge favor." It was Booth, but it didn't sound like the happy version of him. More like the one who came out on the anniversary of Dr. Brennan's 'disappearance'. Except that was last month, so it clearly wasn't the problem.

"What is it?" She asked as she signed off for Dr. Brennan's parking space.

"Hacker called me for a meeting that starts at two-fifteen. Brooke gets out at two-thirty. I told him I had to pick her up, and he said to make Hannah pick her up."

"I thought Hannah left for Greece this morning."

"She did. Which is why I'm calling you."

Cam looked up from her work for the first time. "Seeley, you want me to pick her up from her first day of school?"

"Don't remind me. I already feel like an awful father. I told Hacker I wasn't going to show up to the meeting but he told that if I didn't then he would make sure I was on probation because of last month."

Cam shook her head at the memory. Last month, Booth had been hung over from his previous night drinking when Hacker told him last minute about a meeting. Being the understanding guy he is when he's depressed and hung over, Booth had apparently told his boss to go to hell. Hacker hadn't been particularly pleased with the suggestion.

"Fine, I'll do it. Do you want me to drop her off with you?" she asked as she resumed the administrative work.

"How much grief would Angela hurl my way if you took her to the lab?"

"You're joking, right? If Angela gets wind of who Brooke is _I_ won't ever hear the end of it."

"Where will that leave me?"

"In a place you don't belong. But I'll do it."

"Cam, you are a life saver. And I'll be there to pick her up as soon as I can. Just tell her that I really wanted to pick her up, but my boss won't let me leave."

"Okay."

"Thank you! I owe you a beer! I'll be there by four."

"Okay-" Cam cut herself off. Dr. Brennan was back. Dr. Brennan worked in the lab. "Wait, Booth-"

She heard the click a muttered a curse, "Shit. Shit. Shit." She got up immediately and went to the one person she knew could help. It was just a matter of convincing her. She power walked to the artist's office and prayed that she was in there alone.

But of course, she wasn't. Hodgins was in there talking with her. _It's better than Dr. Brennan, _she commented silently.

"Hodgins, didn't you blow up your lab by doing this earlier today?" Cam asked the couple from the doorway.

"No, I allowed an acidic mixture to boil over the beaker it was in and eat through my desk. That had nothing to do with Angela."

"Except you were talking to her when it happened."

"But I don't have anything running right now. Angela and I were talking about picking up Mike and Katy from school."

"Dr. Brennan isn't picking her up?" Cam would have bet everything she and Paul had that Dr. Brennan would be the first parent in the door to get Katy.

"Board of Directors said they needed a meeting with her this afternoon at two. She argued with them for an hour, but they wouldn't budge, and she only did when they threatened to make not hire her back."

"Apparently they didn't like her disappearing act and want an explanation."

"But you're on the Board, Hodgins, can't you help her?"

"I'm one of twelve and it's majority rule, but of course I'll try."

"Can you keep the meeting going until three or four?" Both Angela and Hodgins' head shot up towards Cam at her request.

"Why would you want to keep your anthropologist tied up in a meeting for two hours?" Hodgins asked suspiciously.

Cam took a deep breath before answering. "Because I might have told Booth I could pick up Brooke and bring her to the lab."

"You didn't!"

"Dr. B is going to kill you!"

"Not if you keep her busy," Cam tried to persuade him.

"Why the hell would you say that? Cam, Bren doesn't ever need to meet Booth's daughter! Ever! And Booth can't ever know about Katy! And what's going to happen if those two girls meet?"

"For all we know, they might already have."

"The only time Katy's been out of Bren's sight has been today at school and in the Jeffersonian's daycare."

"And Brooke has been at school all day. Hannah was insistent that they send to Johnson Elementary."

"Like where Mike goes?" Hodgins asked.

Cam nodded.

"Where Katy goes?" Angela followed up.

Cam nodded again.

"There's only two first grade classes. That's a fifty-fifty chance they're in the same class."

"Brennan's going to flip."

"So, you'll help me?" Cam asked.

"It sounds like there isn't much of choice if we don't want Bren to find out about it. Do you have a plan?"

"I came in here as soon as I realized what I agreed to."

Angela pondered a minute before stating, "I'll take Katy and Mike in my car and you take Brooke in case we're lucky and they haven't met. I'll take Mike and Katy into my office, you take Brooke to daycare."

"And if they know and see each other?"

"If they hate each other, there will be no problem. If they like each other, then Katy at least is as stubborn as both of her parents combined."

"And Brooke is at least as determined as Hannah."

"So, they'll play together whether anyone likes it or not."

Angela and Cam left a few minutes after Brennan left for her meeting. Angela led since she knew the way to the school better, and Cam followed closely behind. They both went into the school at the same time, but Angela went in to get Katy before Cam came within ten feet of the door. After a minute, she saw Angela come out with Katy and try to move towards the second grade classroom without the girl seeing Cam. Of course, it didn't work.

"Cam! What are you doing here?" Katy yelled as she ran towards her.

"I'm here to pick up a friend's daughter."

"Who?" Cam and Angela swapped glances, neither knowing what to do.

Cam decided that Dr. Brennan valued honest, so her daughter probably would too. "Brooklyn Burley."

"Good! Everyone else in that class is a meanie!" A mother looked abhorred at Katy's comment, and Angela apologized quietly as she passed.

"You know Brooke?" Cam clarified.

"Yep! She's my new best friend!" Cam and Angela both sighed. _That_ was going to complicate things.

"Well, she's going to come back to the lab with us."

"Really?"

"Really."

"But first, we have to go get Mike." Before Angela could take another breath, Katy was dragging her towards Mike's classroom.

Cam shook her head and proceeded to get Brooke out of class. It wasn't very difficult as soon as she explained the situation to the teacher. It also helped that Cam was an emergency contact, something Booth had neglected to tell her. But she had bigger things to deal with involving Booth for now. She and Brooke were halfway to the lab before the blonde girl asked where her daddy was.

"His boss wouldn't let him leave work."

"Hacker is a jerk."

"Does your dad let you use that word?" Cam asked, knowing for a fact he didn't. Though, Brooke had clearly heard some of Booth's opinion of his boss.

"No, but Mommy does."

"Of course she does," Cam muttered. Hannah and Booth had completely different parenting techniques, and it usually resulted in some sort of an argument. It was one reason Cam had always assumed they didn't live together anymore. Though, now that she knew the truth, she wasn't if that played any part in it at all.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To the lab where I work."

"Where Dr. Bones used to work?"

For some reason it didn't surprise Cam that Katy knew about Dr. Brennan. It did, however, that she referred to the anthropologist as Dr. _Bones_. "Yes, it is. Who told you about her?"

"Parker. He said Daddy loved her. Even more than Mommy."

"You'll have to ask your dad about that one." Though, to be honest she completely agreed with Parker.

A moment passed in silence before Brooke asked, "What's a sperm?"

Cam about wrecked the car at the question. "Where did you hear about that?"

"Katy."

"Katy?" Dr. Brennan had said she knew the process, but even that was more than Cam thought she would tell her.

"She's a friend at school. She's my new best friend."

"Right. Well, you need to ask your mom or dad about that one in a few years." Because there was no way she was going to explain it to the six years old. If for no other reason, then to avoid an angry Seeley.

"Or Parker," Brooke added. Cam couldn't help but smile at the image of Parker trying to explain semen to his baby sister. It was almost as funny as Booth trying to.

It only took a moment for the girls to see each other in the lab, in which case they were immediately inseparable. It was almost as if Brooke and Katy had known each other since they were toddlers. Actually, they were acting less like friends and more like sisters. _Which they are_, Cam told herself. Angela and Cam watched the three kids, but focused mostly on the girls. It was very interesting to watch, more than anything because Brooke brought out the Brennan in Katy, and Katy brought out the Hannah in Brooke.

However, both women heard the automatic doors open and close and turned around to Dr. Brennan walking towards Angela's office. Angela went immediately to intercept her.

"Sweetie, how was the meeting?"

"The Board decided to allow me to stay."

"That's great!"

"Yes, but I'd be surprised if they didn't allow me to stay. Where's Katy? I want to know about her first day of school."

"She's playing in the other room with Mike and a friend from school."

"A friend?" Dr. Brennan moved to see her friends. "Why are they here and not with their own parents?"

Angela looked to her boss, and Brennan's gaze followed. Cam opened her mouth to answer, but her phone began to ring. She decided to postpone the conversation for as long as possible since she didn't want to explain to Brennan why she had agreed to bring Katy to the lab. "Saroyan."

"Cam, it's me. I'm on my way over to pick up Brooke," Booth's baritone voice rang through the phone like a warning alarm.

Maybe she should have told Brennan before answering the phone. "Of course you are. Okay, I'll have her ready to go outside of the lab in five minutes."

"Actually, I'm walking in now. I just wanted to make sure you were there."

"You're walking in, now, Booth?" Cam said, looking at Brennan and Angela. Brennan's face lost its sheen and Angela looked wide-eyed at Cam. "I'll start getting Brooke ready."

"See you in a second," Booth answered before hanging up.

Cam turned around to see where Dr. Brennan and Angela were going to hide as soon as she was off the phone. She assumed they would be in Dr. Brennan's office with the lights off or something; but instead, they were in the middle of Angela's office with the kids.

"Katy, I want to ask you about your first day," her mother pleaded.

"But I don't want to leave Brooke and Mike."

"I'm serious. Please come with me," Dr. Brennan tried again.

"No!" Katy curled herself up in a ball and sat there.

"Dr. Brennan, there isn't time for this if you don't want to see Booth. He'll be in here any second."

"Daddy's coming?" Brooke asked.

"I wanna meet him!" Katy announced.

"Katy," Brennan tried, but everyone knew it was a lost cause.

"Mommy," she answered back in an identical tone. If the moment hadn't been so tense for the adults, Cam probably would have laughed.

After about two seconds, Brennan gave in. "Fine."

Cam watched the door as Angela dragged Dr. Brennan into her office and flip off the light. She saw them both move towards the floor and settle on the floor as comfortably as possible there. Cam had just enough time to return her attention to the children who were blissfully unaware in their own world before the glass doors slid open, revealing Booth. Cam stepped out of the office to greet him.

"Hey, Booth."

"Hey. Thanks for picking Brooke up for me. Hacker was being a know-it-all ass as usual."

"It wasn't too bad. I followed Angela over since she had to pick up Mike." Cam noticed one of the women in Brennan's office adjusted on the floor moving just enough it distracted Cam.

"Where are they anyway?"

"Who?"

"Brooke and Mike. I assume that you put them together somewhere, or was Angela just completely against the idea?"

"They're in her office. I'll go get-"

"I'll go too. I haven't seen Mike in like a year."

Cam held in a sigh. "Okay."

She led Booth in the other room to see the three kids coloring. Mike was coloring a picture of a green and red bug, Brooke of a pink and purple princess, and Katy of a pig. Booth didn't even seem to notice that there were three kids instead of two. He snuck up behind Brooke, and picked her up while tickling her causing her to release a high pitched laughter.

"Daddy!"

"Hey, how was your first day of school?"

"The kids there are jerks."

"Brooke, what have I told you about that word."

"Not to use it, but Mommy does."

"But you aren't your mom. But uh why was everyone mean?"

"I dunno. They didn't like me or Katy. So we don't like them either."

"That's not a good way to look at it," Booth frowned. "You should try to get to know them."

"We did," Katy interjected from the floor. "But they wouldn't talk to us."

Cam stood up a little straighter, worried about how this was going to play out. It was after all the first time Booth was meeting his daughter, and Dr. Brennan would probably be asking Cam for detailed information on what happened.

Booth looked to the girl on the floor with a little surprise. "You must be Katy then."

She nodded.

Booth turned to Cam and whispered, "Why is she here?"

Of course, Cam didn't have a chance to answer before Katy did. "My mommy works here. Why are you here?"

"He had to pick me up, silly," Brooke replied for her father.

"Who's your mom?" Booth asked, suddenly intrigued. The lab hadn't hired anyone new, at least not that Cam or Sweets had mentioned.

"She's the new anthropologist," Cam answered quickly before Katy could answer with a more detail.

Booth looked for a second like his head might explode. "You just told me Friday that you were starting to look for one."

"Yeah, well, I lied. I had already hired her. But I thought you might need some time to adjust to the idea."

"Where is she? I want to meet her!" The words might have been friendly, but the tone was anything but. In his mind, she replaced Dr. Brennan and that made her the enemy. If only he knew.

"She's in a Board Meeting."

"I thought she went into her office with Mommy," Mike told the group. "Daddy's back in his lab from the meeting."

Cam silently cursed at these kids' honesty. "Lights are off in there so they must have gone out."

"I thought Mommy didn't want to-"

"Katy, your mom went out with Angela," Cam cut her off. The last thing Booth needed to hear was that the new anthropologist didn't want to see him.

"Okay, well tell her I want to meet her. Especially if our kids are going to be spending a lot of time together."

"I will!" Katy volunteered. And Booth looked at her and gave a little smile which she returned right back. Booth looked at the girl for a moment before reaching for Brooke's hand and walking out of the office with her. Once they cleared the sliding doors, Cam let out a sigh of relief before falling into the nearest chair.

She looked up at Mike and Katy and told them, "You two are too honest for our own good."

"What's wrong with being honest?" Katy asked.

Cam just shook her head, knowing exactly where the girl had the idea that there was no such thing as too honest. Sometimes she was a mini- Brennan.

It was only about thirty seconds before Brennan stormed into Angela's office. "Cam, who was that girl with Booth?"

"That was Brooke, his and Hannah's daughter."

"I told you that, Sweetie," Angela said from the doorway. Her attention quickly turned to the kids. "Why don't you guys go play with your dad, Mike?"

"Okay!" Mike took Katy's hand and led her out of the office, neither child complaining.

Angela turned back to Brennan. "You knew she existed. We all told you about her. And asking about Booth in front of Katy, who is Brooke's best friend as of today, really isn't a good idea."

"That girl can't be Brooke."

"Trust me, Dr. Brennan. I've known her since she was born. That it Brooklyn Madison Burley, Hannah and Seeley's daughter."

"I'm not doubting that she is Hannah's daughter. They share a similar facial structure. However she shares no similar traits with Booth! That is not Booth's daughter!"

* * *

><p><strong>So, what did you guys think?<strong>


	10. Explanation in the Phone Call

**So, some of you have assumed Brooke's not Booth's daughter since chapter 1. Others thought it was a major plot twist... Cool! But now we get to see the impact of Brennan's statement. :)**

**Also, remember how I said something about chapter 11 being super important? That was before I combined it to chapter 10. So, I'm a little worried about everyone's reactions to this...**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1.**

* * *

><p>Cam and Angela sat there staring at Brennan, trying to comprehend what she had just announced.<p>

"What do you mean Brooke's not Booth's daughter?" Cam finally asked. He had called to tell her when Hannah was in labor with Brooke. He had called Cam a dozen times asking about if things were normal for a little girl to want to do or ask her medical opinion. He had taught Brooke to ride a bike and even had mastered the art of pigtails. He loved that little girl and Cam was pretty sure it was going to break his heart if Dr. Brennan was right.

"I mean she shows no genetic sign of Booth. She looks like Hannah, but there are still some traits that differ from both her and Booth."

"Sweetie, are you sure you aren't just seeing what you want to?"

Brennan turned on Angela in a blink of an eye. "You think I want to ruin Booth's chance at happiness? That's why I left in the first place. So he could have the life he wanted with the woman he wanted."

"Except instead you took that opportunity away from him," Cam pointed out.

"Cam, he was-"

"I know what you told me, Dr. Brennan. Which is why I haven't told Booth you're back. But I've also seen him be miserable trying to figure out what he did to make you run. So whether you believe it or not, he regrets it. And I don't doubt for a second that he wouldn't love to see you again. Yes, he might be angry you left him and never let him see his daughter, but eventually he'll forgive you for that and offer his whole heart to you again."

"I would prefer he kept his metaphorical organs away from me. Last time, he was ready to abandon Katy and me."

"He actually said that to you?" Cam pushed. She knew he didn't but she also knew Brennan had already fibbed by telling Angela and her Booth didn't even know Katy existed.

"No, but he avoided me. Booth doesn't deal with personal conflict well, so he tends to avoid it for as long as possible."

"He doesn't or you don't?" Angela asked.

"Angela!" Brennan half yelled.

"I'm sorry, Sweetie. You know I love you and Katy, but every time I've seen Booth without one of his kids outside of work, it's been him half wasted ranting about how only he managed to screw up his third chance with the perfect woman. I usually just ignore him and assumed it's the alcohol talking. But I saw the way Booth looked at Katy. And there was a something there that I've seen between Jack and Mike. It's the one where a father sees something he recognizes in his kid. And if that's the case, you've got a few weeks max before Booth puts two and two together. And when that happens, then no one will be able to stop him. Not me, Cam, Jack, or Sweets."

"You're assuming Booth will figure out that Katy his daughter. But that would mean he had to assume that I was the new anthropologist and all of you hid it from him."

"Which is what's happened. And if he asks me, if your back, Dr. Brennan, I'm not sure I can lie if asks me point blank. You knew coming back meant having to face him and if Brooke and Katy are going to be friends then you're going to see him at some point."

"I have no problem avoiding Booth. I've done it for the past seven years."

"You weren't in the same city as him, Sweetie."

"No, but I was the year before we began our partnership."

"You didn't have daughters who were best friends then."

Brennan considered Angela's logic for a moment. "You're right. It is highly unlikely that I can avoid Booth completely if Brooke and Katy remain friends, and I won't tell her not to be friends with Brooke. I also won't ask that you lie to Booth, either. It isn't fair to ask you hide I am here, especially given the close friendship you have with him, Cam. I would however like notice before you tell him."

"You're willing to talk to Booth, just like that?" Cam questioned.

"Angela's right. I can't avoid him forever. And although I would like to postpone the conversation for as long as possible, we will end up having it and I would prefer it be on my terms."

A ringing suddenly filled the air and all three women reached for their phone. Cam read the caller idea. "Speak of the devil," she murmured before answering.

"Cam, what the hell kind of mother teaches her kid about sperm?" Booth was fuming over the phone. They hadn't been gone two minutes when Brooke asked the question Cam had told her to wait a few years before asking.

"I told Brooke to wait to ask you about it. And shouldn't you watch you language around her?"

"She's in the car! But that's not the point! I don't want Brooke even knowing that it even exists until she has… what's the equivalent to guy's get hair under the arms?" he was practically yelling into the phone. In fact, Cam turned town her phone's volume.

Cam was tempted to tell him her period or gaining breast, but thought better of it. "You aren't going to like the answer. But Seeley, calm down. She doesn't understand what it is, only that it is involved in making kids." Angela suddenly raised a curious and amused eyebrow and Brennan's face furrowed. Cam took the phone away from her mouth before explaining, "Katy was explaining how babies were made to Brooke, going into some detail. And Brooke asked Booth what sperm was."

Angela began to laugh while Brennan sighed. "I told her not to discuss with other children unless they brought it up," she muttered as she walked out of the office, to go make sure Katy understood not to repeat this.

As soon as Brennan was out of the office, Angela asked Cam, "Will you put him on speaker so I talk to him?"

Cam nodded before putting obliging. "-What kind of parents tells their kid that stuff when they're six?" Apparently Booth had been ranting the entire time.

"Katy's known about it for at least a year."

"Not helping. I don't want Brooke knowing that kind of stuff!"

"Well, Katy's mom was just in here and when she heard what Katy did, she went to yell at her," Cam tried to sooth.

"Why has she told her daughter about sex to begin with?"

"Probably to answer the question 'how are babies made?' that Katy asked when she was three. The whole 'when a mommy and daddy really love each other' conversation doesn't really work when there's no daddy around."

"Angela?"

"Yeah?"

"You're talking to me," Booth answered hesitantly as though she wasn't aware of the fact.

"Yes, I am."

"Why? I mean, I happy you are but-"

"If Katy and Brooke are going to be friends, that means I'll see you more and I want to set a good example for Mike."

"Yeah, well, I don't want my daughter hanging around this Katy!" Booth answered sharply.

"Are you sure you can call her that?" Angela replied in the same tone. She might have been trying to set a good example, but that didn't mean she couldn't try to get some revenge for Brennan. Cam shot her an alarmed look.

"Is there another name for the little girl?"

"I think Angela meant Brooke," Cam told him cautiously shooting Angela an _I hope you know what you're doing _look.

There was silence in both the rooms as Booth tried to comprehend what they were asking him. Finally, he answered. "Who figured it out?"

"Wait a second, you knew?" Cam asked, trying to keep some shock out of her voice. It didn't work.

"Yeah. Hannah wouldn't lie to me about something like that. But who at the lab figured it out?"

Instead of answering him, Angela blew like Mt. Vesuvius. "Booth, you were ready to leave Brennan for Hannah and a child that you knew wasn't yours? You know better than anyone how hard of a time she has opening up to people and you were ready to-"

"No! Angela, you don't know what the hell you're talking about!" his voice immediately matched hers in fury. Cam knew how private he got when talking about Dr. Brennan or right after. But she also knew that Angela had a lot of pent up rage towards the man.

"Oh, really? I was there the day Brennan heard you and Hannah talking! It destroyed her to think that you were ready to go back to Hannah without telling her! Especially when you began avoiding her! She wanted to talk to you, but when you spend every night hiding her, then what else is she supposed to think! She wanted you to _want_ to stay with her, so she left before she began to show so you wouldn't feel like you had too! She left because she thought it would be easier than have you abandon her like everyone else in her life. And you know what? It wasn't. She's had to raise that child by herself because you decided pregnant Hannah was more important than Brennan. I'd be more willing to understand if it was your kid, but you've known the entire time it wasn't and you did exactly what she was afraid you would. You left her, Booth."

"Hey, Bones left me! Not the other way around!" His voice then dropped to a harsh whisper. "I never agreed to be Brooke's father until after she left! I wouldn't do that to her or our child! And the only reason I was avoiding her was because I had orders to!"

"You had orders to stay away from Dr. Brennan?" Cam asked.

At the same time Angela said, "You knew she was pregnant?"

"Yes, to both," he said angrily. "I told them I didn't want to do it, but they ordered me to join the committee."

"What committee?"

"The one that was trying to find all of the other bank robbers that Dr. Brennan's parents worked with. I was assigned to the team because I technically brought Max in. It's technically confidential for some reason. But if you really think that I could just leave Brennan on a whim, you're dead wrong. I've been searching for her every day for the past seven years. I've tracked down every lead I could find so I could apologize and explain! You don't think that I know how stupid it was to avoid her? How much I wanted to just see her and tell her how it was me and not her? But I didn't have the choice since I was on the damn committee."

"Why wouldn't they want Brennan to know?"

"They thought she would tell Max who would tell some of the other people. I told them that she wouldn't and even if she did, Max wouldn't tell any of them because they had put a hit out on him, Brennan, Russ, and their mom. But they thought it was too big of a risk. And I couldn't tell her why I was avoiding her because then she'd ask why I was ordered and you get the picture. Plus, it's hard to do when the only time I could talk to her when she called me. Which always ended up being when other people were in the room."

"So, you avoiding her had nothing to do with your relationship?"

"God, no. Nothing at all. I loved her- love her."

"Well, why didn't you tell any of us?"

"Because I didn't think anyone knew we were dating, and if she wanted it that way then I was going to let her have it."

"She told me the day after Vincent was shot," Angela confided softly. "I've known for seven years that you two were together. What I don't understand is how you know about your daughter."

"Daughter?" It was almost a whisper. All anger and tension in his voice had disappeared, and there only seemed to be amazement. "She had a baby girl?"

"Yeah."

"I have a daughter… I have a little girl."

"Booth, how did you know Brennan was pregnant?" Angela tried again.

"She told me. The night Mike was born. We were starting to talk about moving in together when I was assigned to the task force. Damn it, I never should have threatened to quit rather than join! I lost her and my daughter! Damn it!"

"Daddy, I'm right here," the voice was muffled, but both women knew exactly who it belonged to. "I didn't go anywhere."

"I'll talk to you guys later," Booth told them before hanging up the phone.

Cam immediately closed her phone and looked at the artist. "What do we do now?"

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><p><strong>So, we all know that Brooke is not definitely not Booth's (in case you didn't believe Brennan) and Booth knows it. Now my question is, would anyone be interested in them finding Brooke's daddy or just leave him out of it?<strong>

**Also I'd love to hear your opinions on this chapter. (Hopefully a little less Booth bashing ;) )**


	11. Response to the Call

**Okay, here's the short chapter I was talking about. I'll try to amke it up to you with another chapter tomorrow. But I've got some other school stuff going on, so no promises. **

**Also, I asked what everyone wanted me to do with Brooke's biological father. It was interesting to see about a fifty/fifty split. I actually made a tally and as of when I'm posting this it is 8-8. It will be a while before I can even begin to write into the story, so if you haven't already given me an opinion it may help. :)**

**Anyway you guys, probably want to get on with the story.**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1.**

* * *

><p>Cam's words hung in the air for a minute, both knowing what needed to be done. They had to tell Brennan. She needed to know what Booth had said really happened seven years ago. She needed to know that Booth hadn't chosen Hannah, only agreed to help her with her child since he couldn't find his. And despite finding out that Booth had never stopped caring about her and Katy. This was going to kill Brennan. She had already told Cam she didn't want to believe she had taken Katy away from Booth for no reason, but it appeared that is what had happened.<p>

After a few minutes, Brennan returned to the room and noticed that both Cam and Angela were sitting there in silence. "I thought you were talking to Booth."

"We were."

"But not anymore?"

"No... But he told us something, Sweetie."

"That usually happens when you talk to someone, Ange."

"Yeah, but he told us something that we should have asked him a long time ago. And something you should have told me a long time ago."

Brennan looked at her with confusion written on her face. "What did he tell you?"

"Dr. Brennan, were you aware that several years ago, Booth was included in a group to help convict the rest of the criminals your parents were involved with?"

"No, I wasn't. When was that?" Brennan answered hesitantly.

"Right before you left. They told him to avoid you so he wouldn't tell you what he was working on."

"What? That's ridiculous! I was his partner!"

"And the daughter of a man who was in the group."

"So? The group killed my mother! Neither Dad or I would have told them that the FBI was looking for them! Why didn't Booth tell me? Didn't he trust me?"

"Dr. Brennan, I can assure you that Booth trusted you. But he was specifically ordered not to let you know and surrounded by people most of the time."

"So first he lies to me about his work then decides he wants Hannah back and doesn't bother to mention any of this to me?"

"He met with Hannah once while you two were together," Cam shared. "And I'm assuming that was when you saw them. She was asking him to be a father to Brooke."

"Which he clearly said yes to."

"Only after you left, Sweetie."

That made Brennan pause for a moment. "You mean he wasn't going to leave?"

"I don't think there was much of a chance of that happening," Cam confirmed.

"So I was trying to protect Katy from nothing?" her voice became completely emotionless. She was compartmentalizing, but her walls weren't as strong as they once were.

"You were trying to protect her from what happened to you. You got scared, Bren. And then Booth started acting weird and not talking to you. You made an assumption that turned out to be wrong."

"Angela, what you're saying is I kept Booth from his child because I didn't trust him enough."

"Not exactly. Anybody could have done what you did."

"But I'm not anyone. And that's exactly what happened." Brennan took a deep breath. "I'll explain the situation to him next time I see him."

"You can't seriously think it's going to be that simple?" Cam cut in.

"No, but if I go searching for him then it might be more of a shock."

"And him coming to pick up Brooke and seeing you or you going to pick up the girls from school is going to be less of one?"

"Probably not, but it will at least stop him from storming out of wherever we are if he has to take Brooke."

"You're playing with fire."

"No, I'm not. I've been hiding behind its smoke for the last seven years. And now it's time to pull any chance of a relation with Booth out of the flames."

"You still want a relationship with him?" Cam asked surprised. She assumed even with the new discovery, Brennan wouldn't want to try to establish a relationship again. Especially not with Booth.

"He's Katy's father. I'm going to have some form of relationship with him whether I like it or not. It will stay completely platonic this time however."

"I remember you saying something similar to me right after you Booth started working together, Bren."

"And I learn from my mistakes."

"But when did the mistakes start and what was right end?"

Brennan wanted to answer Cam's question, but found that, for once, she didn't know the answer.


	12. Booth in on the Truth

**I'm kinda surprised I'm updating today. But it will definitely all be before at least Saturday, maybe Sunday... Idk. Anyway, I want to thank you guys for all of your reviews. :)**

**Disclaimers in Chapter 1.**

* * *

><p>The following week, Brennan began to ponder Cam's question. She had decided long ago that it was a mistake to engage in a romantic relationship with Booth, but now she wasn't so sure that was really the first mistake. If maybe the mistake had not been demanding Booth for an answer over the phone. The idea had crossed her mind several times in those few weeks, but she remembered Booth telling her there were certain questions that should be asked face-to-face, and she had assumed Hannah was one of them. Maybe that was her first mistake. That or not trusting Booth enough.<p>

Booth's decision not to let Brooke and Katy see each other again was quickly reverse. Mostly, because Hacker stuck him in another meeting on the following Friday while Hannah wasn't due back until that evening. Which meant Booth made a last minute call to Cam begging her to pick up Katy again.

"You realize that means the girls will be playing together outside of school, right?"

"Yeah, well, since the whole sperm thing, Katy hasn't told Brooke about anything else they don't really need to know. Plus, I figure if she's got a mom who's a squint so she's bound to know some stuff I don't want Brooke to know and will tell her. Might as well get used to it."

"It's mostly because you don't have a choice, isn't it?" Cam asked only slightly smugly.

"Yeah, mostly. But I'll come by and pick her up around the same time as last time."

"Okay. Maybe you'll even be able to talk to Katy's mom." _And make everyone else's lives a little easier._

"Maybe."

So, this time Angela picked up all three kids from school and brought them straight to the lab. And immediately sent them to play in her office. She knew Brennan was in Limbo, and had no idea that Booth was coming to pick up his daughter. Sure, Brennan had said she was ready to face Booth and she probably believed it. But if she knew he was coming, she might run again. And after hearing Booth's side of the story, it was time for this game of hide-and-go-seek to end.

Cam and Hodgins came into her office about three o'clock, hoping to see the old partner's passionate reunification, though none of them knew if it would be a romantic passion or angry one. The adults watched as the children played, though each of them looked towards the doors every couple minutes in anticipation.

Finally the automatic doors opened to reveal a Booth, just not the one they were expecting. No, this one had blonde hair from his mother and his father's soulful brown eyes. And was holding car keys which shocked Angela and Hodgins, not so much Cam.

"Hey, Parker. Let me guess, Booth sent you to pick up Brooke."

"Yeah, apparently his boss is keeping him in a meeting for a while longer. Plus, I kinda wanted to meet the girl that told Brooke about sperm. I've never seen Dad panic so much in his life! He called Mom first to find out how to explain it to a girl and she basically laughed and told him to explain it to her as he did to me. It was great!"

"Well, they're both in here playing."

Parker stepped in the room and saw Angela and Hodgins waiting in there with the three kids. He saw them look questioningly at him as though they were confused as to why he was here.

"Long time, no see," Parker told them awkwardly.

"Yeah. Been a few years."

"Since Bones disappeared."

"Yeah," Hodgins answered back.

Angela tried to break the tension. "But you've grown up a lot, Parker. I bet the girls are tripping over themselves to be near you."

Parker flashed a smile. "Not all of them, but a good majority."

"Oh God, he has the Booth ego," Cam commented from the doorway before walking in.

"Must be genetic."

"I was hoping Booth didn't pass it to you."

Parker's grin grew and he walked over to Brooke. "Hey, Brooke, you ready to go?"

Brooke looked up and shook her head. "I wanna stay here with Katy and Mike."

"Dad wants to meet us at home. He says he's got a surprise for us."

"He's not the only one with surprises," Angela muttered so the kids wouldn't here. The oldest of them all did however.

"What do you mean?"

Katy looked up at what she thought was Parker's bizarre comment. "Are you talking to an imaginary friend? Because you're a little too big to have them."

Parker looked down at the girl and couldn't help but laugh. "No, Angela said something. You must be Katy though."

"Yep. And you must be Parker."

"Yep."

Suddenly a new person entered the room, completely oblivious to six of the seven other people in the room. "Angela, I need a face for the latest Limbo case."

Angela's eyebrows shot up. "Sweetie, can it wait a minute?"

"The sooner we can ID the remains the sooner their families will have closure."

"You're working on Civil War bodies. They can wait."

"But their families have a right to know what happened to them."

"Like you let yours?" a sarcastic voice questioned her from behind.

Brennan looked to see who spoke to her with such a disgusted tone. At first, she didn't recognize the boy who spoke to her. He was too young to be an intern, but way too old to be a friend from school. But then she looked directly into his eyes and even through all of the anger, she knew exactly who he was.

"Parker? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I work here as of last week ago."

"What?" Brennan turned and saw the blonde girl sitting next to her own daughter.

The girl was watching her brother and best friend's mom talk but when she saw the woman look at her she simply said, "Hi Dr. Baines."

"Hello, Brooke."

"Wait, a second," Parker said immediately. "You're the new anthropologist here? You're Katy's mom?"

"Yes."

Parker's eyes went from Brennan to Katy several times before he could utter three syllables. "Oh my God."

"Aw, you said a bad word!" Mike chastised. But he was completely ignored by the adults.

Brennan realized what was about to happen and immediately dragged Parker out of the room and towards her office, as he repeated the three words. Finally, she had him seated on her couch with a water bottle before he could say anything else. "Brooke is playing with my missing half sister."

"Yes."

For some reason, her answer triggered something in Parker that allowed reality to catch up with him. And the hurt that he had felt seven years ago when she left began to explode from him. "Why are you back? Is it to screw with Dad's life again? Is it to try to dump another kid on him? Or is it because you think that raising a kid is too much trouble on your own so you want help?"

Brennan sighed. "Parker, what happened seven years ago was my fault. I misunderstood some things and got scared. I did what I thought I had to do to protect Katy. Am I proud of it? No. But I was tired of running from the family I had here at the lab, so I came back. And to answer your question, no I do not want to 'screw with Booth's life' or 'dump another child on him'. While raising a child alone is difficult, I accepted the responsibility when I left."

"How noble of you, Bones," he answered sardonically. "How kind of you to take away my dad's daughter, my sister, and then come back and not tell anyone! How do you think my dad's going to take it that you and Katy are back? Do you realize how messed up he got after you left? He was drunk for weeks! He went back to gambling, for Christ's sake!"

Brennan's head shot up. "No one told me that."

"That's because I'm the one who caught him and told Mom. She flipped her shit and was ready to kill him. Between her and Hannah, they got him to quit without anyone else finding out."

"Good," Brennan admitted, but now felt much guiltier than before. How badly had her disappearance affected him that he never told Cam or Sweets about?

"You know when my dad came back with Hannah the first time, I didn't understand why you guys had broken up. I like Hannah, but I thought you were cooler. I wanted you guys to get back together. Now, I understand why Dad always went to her. She was there when he needed her."

Parker's words were like daggers lunging through her heart. She knew he was right, that she had hurt Booth more than she ever thought she was capable of. She had always known she was doomed to, but she had always tried to make it as little as possible.

"_No! No!"_

"_Why? Why?"_

"_You-you thought you were protecting me, but you're the one who needs protecting?"_

"_From what?"_

"_From me… I don't have your kind of open heart."_

She had tried to tell him nine years ago, tried to make herself put him first. But after he returned with Hannah the first time, she knew she was damned to be selfish. And then she did exactly what she had tried to prevent when she left. She crushed his heart.

"I tried to warn him once I wasn't good enough for him," she admitted quietly, holding back the tears that threatened to fall.

"You got that right!" Parker half laughed, but there was no humor in it. "I have to ask, though, what made you decide it was the perfect time to leave?"

Brennan looked directly at Parker. She could easily tell him her side of the story, and how she thought Booth was going to betray her. But she knew how important Parker was to Booth and how at one point he had idolized his father. She couldn't tell him what she suspected him of. "I can't tell you, Parker."

"Why the hell not? I deserve the truth! My _dad _deserves the truth. You owe us that much."

"You aren't going to like it."

"Yeah, well, I didn't like that you left, but I accepted that."

Brennan realized that he was just as stubborn as Booth, and there was no way out of it. "I was scared. I thought Katy and I were in danger, so I left."

"Without telling Dad."

"You don't tell the threat anything when you're hiding from it."

Parker's tone changed from completely anger to confusion. "What? You thought Dad was going to hurt you?"

"Not physically… What has Booth told you about my past?"

Parker looked even more confused for a moment before answering. "Not much. Just that your mom, your brother, and Max left you when you were fifteen. Why?"

"I heard him talking to Hannah about him helping to raise Brooke. I made the assumption that turned out to be false. I was going to ask him about it, except he began to avoid me because of work. I didn't know why he was avoiding me at the time."

For the first time, the teenager's face softened. "You thought he was going to leave you and help Hannah raise Brooke instead. You were trying to beat him to the punch."

Brennan nodded, finally allowing for a single tear to descend down her face. She quickly wiped it away. "I made a mistake. I am now the first to admit that. But I can't change the past, only try to adjust the future."

They sat there for a moment trying to understand the other's situation. Parker had seen his father go through hell when Bones left and was now realizing she had been going through something very similar. Brennan knew what Parker was going through to some degree, facing the fact someone who you respected and loved had left to protect their child by hurting those they cared about. She had been through it with her father and brother. But it was different being the one who caused the pain, she quickly decided.

"Bones, you just threw a lot at me," he finally said.

"I'm sorry."

"No, I'm happy you did. Well, maybe not happy, but I needed it… Look, I was supposed to have Brooke home fifteen minutes ago. But I… I kinda understand why you did it now. I don't like it, but my dad shoulda have told you why he was meeting with Hannah and not talking to you… You know, she's not his actual daughter, right? Brooke, I mean. Hannah got pregnant off a one-night stand and asked for his help. He told her no at first, but then after you left-"

"I assumed as much," Brennan assured him.

Parker nodded and stood there a moment longer. "Well, I guess I'll see you soon."

Brennan nodded and swallowed back a new set of tears as she watched him go get Brooke then leave the lab. If this was how she reacted just telling Parker, how was she ever going to face Booth?

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><p><strong>So now somebody else knows, someone who's loyalty isn't to Brennan first... Anyone want the next chapter sooner than Saturday? <strong>;P<strong>**

**Also how many people thought this was going to be the chapter when Booth found/ figured it out?**


	13. Truth from the Booth

**Hey, look! It's Friday, not Saturday and I'm posting this! :)**

**I wanted to thank you guys for the reviews! And I really wanted to thank meredithgrey23 for agreeing to be beta too!**

**And now, here's a chapter you guys have been waiting for (no, B&B aren't meeting in this chapter). **

**Disclaimers in chapter 1.**

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><p>Parker was silent. Brooke had tried to start a couple of conversations with him, but he cut everyone of them short. When she tried to start the third one, Parker just gave her his phone to play with. His mind was still back at the lab with Bones and Katy. He never thought he might actually get a chance to meet his little sister, but now she and Brooke were best friends. At the lab, he had assumed his dad didn't have a clue that they were back. But Bones said they had been back for a week, and his dad just had lunch with Cam on Friday. He had to have known. Had he and Bones talked? They must have. His dad wouldn't have let Bones just sit at the lab with their daughter without going to talk to her. How could his dad not tell him? Parker knew her leaving had messed with his dad, but shouldn't her coming back have helped? It certainly would have helped Parker not to be blindsided when Bones came walking into Angela's office like nothing had changed.<p>

After what seemed like forever, he pulled up to his dad's place. Brooke jumped out of the car while Parker took his time. However when he got to the door he was immediately brought back to reality by the sound of his father's booming voice. "Where have you been? I was ready to come look for you!"

"I got busy at the lab," Parker mumbled angrily. His dad couldn't seriously think that it would be an in-and-out trip with Bones there.

"And you didn't answer your phone because…?"

Parker looked over at Brooke who was still in possession of his phone. "Brooke, did you press the red button whenever it came up?"

"It wouldn't let me play Angry Birds unless I did."

"Question. Answer." Parker tried to move towards the door past his dad. Booth blocked the way.

"You were supposed to beat me home by ten minutes. That's even allowing for you to say hi to Angela and Hodgins."

Parker just looked at his dad. "Gee, I wonder who might be at the lab that I would want to have a longer conversation with."

Parker never gave this much attitude to Booth, even when he was in a bad mood. And after his stunt from a last week, Booth didn't find it very helpful. "Brooke, why don't you go play inside. I need to talk to Parker for a minute."

"Uh-oh, Parker's in trouble," Brooke sang as she giggled.

"Brooke," Booth used his sternest voice and the girl skipped inside. As soon as the door closed, Booth wheeled on his son. "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing. What about you?"

"Parker, I'm serious."

"Me too," his son answered back.

It took Booth just a moment to realize that it wasn't some teenage angst that made his son act this way. It was anger. "Are you me at me?"

"That's why you were such a good investigator, Dad. Well that and you had Bones by your side."

"Excuse me?" It had been an unspoken rule not to talk about Brennan unless there was no way around it. Booth had broken that rule a couple of times in the past week but only with Cam because she was trying to replace Brennan and then telling Angela and her why he had been acting distant with Bones. But never with family.

"You know, I understand not wanting to let the whole world know what's going on in your personal life. But it would be nice to at least let me know."

"What are you talking about?"

Parker rolled his eyes. "Katy was at the lab."

"I know, Angela picked her, Brooke, and Mike up from school. What? You don't like that your sister is making friends?"

"I'm happy she is. I just wished I known about her before I had to go pick up Brooke from the lab."

"You're mad I didn't tell you that your sister's friend was a squint's kid?"

"No, mom told me that. I'm beyond pissed you didn't tell that she was the daughter or an assistant director of the FBI."

"Parker, what are you saying?"

"Come on, you have lunch with Cam every few weeks. You were at the lab last week. You ranted about Katy all last weekend. You know, you could have just told me or Mom."

"Told you what? You're making it sound like Katy's your sister."

It suddenly occurred to Parker that maybe his dad had been just in the dark about Katy and Bones being back as he had been a couple of hours ago. In which case, Parker had some major explaining to do. "You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"Dad, Katy_ is_ my sister."

It suddenly clicked for Booth what his son was telling him. And he couldn't believe it."No. No. No! Parker, you're wrong. I don't know why you think that, but Cam... she would have told me if she hired her back. Or Sweets, he had to do the psych evaluation. Even Angela or Hodgins would have mentioned it to me by now. I'm sorry, but you're wrong."

"I talked to her. That's why I was so late."

Booth felt his legs giving out under him. He tried to picture the little girl in the blue dress he had seen last week. Sure, he had noticed the brilliant blue eyes, but he had thought he had been imagining things. And then her being so open about sex, it was a very Bonesy thing. But that meant he had been in the same room as his baby girl. He had tried to keep Brooke away from his baby. The one he had been looking for along with her mother. And they had been in DC since at least last Monday.

Booth felt his head spinning as he tried to comprehend what he was realizing. How had he missed that it was his daughter sitting in the room? He knew there was something special about her when he made eye contact, but again, he thought it was his imagination. How could he not have known? He'd always assumed he would just know when they were in the same room. Instead, he acted as though there was no connection between them. He wanted to go back and change that. He needed to establish some form of connection with Katy, even if it was only until Bones found out.

"Dad?" Parker's sounded like a distant echo to Booth, but he still looked towards him. "Are you okay?"

Booth suddenly realized he was sitting against his door with a hand in his hair and a few tears rolling down his face. "Yeah, just… surprised."

"You aren't in shock are you?"

"No. At least I don't think so."

"Well, I'm going to go babysit Brooke." Booth looked to his son in a little bit of amazement. He hadn't even considered running to the lab yet, and here was Parker telling him to go. Meaning he thought Bones wanted to see Booth. All the man could do was nod at his son as he sprint towards the car. He was almost out of hearing range when Parker yelled, "Just hear her out. She was only trying to protect Katy."


	14. Parent in the Lab

**Hey, I want to give a big thanks to meredithgrey23 for betaing this chapter and catching all of my mistakes. :)**

**Also to everyone who reviewed, you guys are amazing.**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1**

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><p>Brennan walked into Angela's office as soon as Parker left with Brooke to find the artist, Hodgins, and Cam all standing there, clearly waiting for her. All three of their gazes bore into her as though they were waiting for gossip. Which they were. She, however, was not in the mood to give them anything yet, though.<p>

"What happened to giving me warning before Booth came?"

"He didn't come," Angela pointed out.

"I assumed the principle would hold true for Parker as well!"

"You never specified him, Dr. B. Plus, I thought you were ready to talk to Booth."

"I am! However, him randomly showing up at the lab was not what I had in mind!"

"Mommy, why are you so mad?" Katy asked from the floor. Brennan had actually forgotten about her and Mike's presence. Brennan suddenly realized that Katy had no idea that her father was living in the same city as them. Brennan had made it clear to Katy from a young age that her not having a father had nothing to do with the man and everything to do with her. Yes, she thought Booth had chosen Hannah over her at the time, but it was only because she had rejected him that he had the opportunity to meet the reporter in the first place, making it ultimately her fault. But now Booth was a breath away from knowing who Katy was. Katy should be aware that her father was at least nearby.

"I'm not mad, just… irritated."

"Why?"

"I'll take you out for ice cream and tell you."

Katy looked up in sheer joy. She was getting ice cream _and_ getting to talk to her mom about something that was probably a grown-up discussion? "Okay!"

"Can I come?" Mike asked from beside her.

"Sweetie, why don't you let Katy and Brennan talk by themselves," Angela suggested. She knew perfectly well what Brennan was going to have to explain to Katy, and Mike did not need to hear about it. "I'll take you out for ice cream tomorrow."

"But I wanna go today!"

"Mike," Hodgins used his stern voice, "listen to your mom. Or no ice cream at all."

"Fine." Mike returned to his picture, though he was definitely a little angrier.

Katy shot up from her seat and immediately began to drag her mom out of the door. Brennan had to literally pull Katy to her office so she could grab her purse before they left.

Brennan walked with Katy to an ice cream shop that was across the street from the museum proper. Brennan got vanilla, Katy chocolate with gummy bears and sprinkles. Brennan had been silent the entire time except while ordering, so her daughter knew that something must be really, really wrong.

"Mommy, what did you want to talk about?" Katy asked once they were sitting at a table.

Brennan sighed, not sure if she was ready for _this_ conversation. "Do you remember asking me about your father a couple of years ago?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah. You told me that he would love me if he ever met me, but that was probably never going to happen because he was mean to you. Why are we talking about Daddy?"

"Because there is now a possibility that you will meet your father." Actually, they had already crossed paths, but there was no need to complicate the situation yet.

"Daddy's here?" Katy began to look wildly around the ice cream store looking at all of the men.

"In DC, yes. In this room, no."

"Where is he?"

"Either at work or home, most likely."

"Where is that?"

"I don't know where he lives now, but he works with the FBI."

"Like Brooke's daddy?" Brennan internally cringed at the pseudo-description of Booth.

"Yes."

"Does Brooke's daddy know him?"

"Very well."

Katy took in the information. "His name is Booth, right?"

Brennan almost dropped her ice cream. How had Katy figured out who her father was? All she could make herself say was "What?"

"Brooke's daddy. You and Angela and Cam all called him Booth."

The anxiety faded away a little as Brennan answered, "Yes, his name is Booth."

Katy nodded. "Does Daddy know we live here now?"

"No," Brennan answered. On second thought though, chances were Parker would tell him. "Actually he might."

"Why didn't you tell him we were coming back?"

"Because I wasn't sure if he would want to see me."

"But he'll want to see me, right?"

"Yes."

"Good!" Katy exclaimed as she began eating her ice cream again.

After the ice cream, Brennan and Katy walked back to the lab. Katy spent most of the trip thinking about what her daddy would be like. Sure, she had always done that, but now she might actually get to meet him! She felt like she had lots of butterflies flying around in her stomach, even though she knew it would be a while before she met her father. Or so she thought.

As they began to near the lab, Brennan was surprised to hear someone call her name. Not Joy Baines or Brennan, though. "Temperance?"

She turned around and saw Katy do the same. Katy didn't seem to understand why they were stopping, but did anyway. Brennan however was scanning through people until she saw the origin of the voice. "Andrew."

"My God, it really is you! I thought you had moved half way around the world or something!"

"No, I decided to take some time off and spend it around my brother and father, but I'm back now."

"Really? I thought the Jeffersonian hired someone named Joy Baines."

"I changed my legal name."

"So, I should call you Joy from now on?"

"Temperance is fine. How have you been?"

"Good. Working a lot on some hush-hush cases. Very important stuff."

Katy made the quick decision that she didn't like this man. Something about him just bothered the girl. It was like he was trying too hard to make her mom like him. Katy knew from books that mommies and daddies were supposed to go together like peanut butter and jelly. But if he was going to try to show off to her mom, then Katy didn't want to watch. "Mommy, can I go back to the lab?"

"Mommy?" Andrew repeated back to Brennan. "Temperance, is this your daughter?"

"Yes. Andrew, this is Katy. Katy, this is Andrew Hacker, Deputy Director of the FBI."

"How do you know Mommy?" she asked hesitantly.

"Mostly through work. But we went out on a couple of dates," he admitted.

Katy froze. Her dad worked at the FBI. And he knew her mommy had gotten the job at the lab, but called her by a different name; the same one Grandpa and Uncle Russ used for her. And they dated! That meant they probably kissed too, maybe even… Ewww! Was this Andrew her daddy? She hoped not! She didn't like him!

"Katy, if you wait a minute I'll walk you back. You shouldn't be by yourself here."

"Please, please, please! I wanna go play with Mike!" Actually, she just wanted to be away from Andrew, but thought her mom would be mad if she said that out loud.

"Don't whine."

"Temperance, I can see the entrance to the lab from here. Just let her go. We have some things I'd like to talk about." Clearly, he didn't want to have her hanging around either. Maybe because he wanted to ask her mom why he didn't know about Katy. Maybe her mom was wrong and he didn't want to be around her at all. Maybe he was just a meanie-butt.

Brennan conceded to them. "Do not talk to anyone between here and there, Katy. And go directly to my office and wait for me. I want to talk to you before you go play with Mike."

Katy nodded before running to her mom's office.


	15. Conversation in the Office

**Hey, everyone! Definitely meant to post this earlier in the day... Whoops. Anyway, it's a fairly long chapter and I hope you guys can wait a while for the next chapter because I'm going out of town for the weekend meaning not as much writing. So you might get the next chapter Monday. Sorry in advance and please don't kill me. **

**Also I want to thank MeredithGrey23 for reviewing and telling me what I needed to make more clear.**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1.**

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><p>Booth broke several speeding laws in order to get the Jeffersonian as quickly as he did. Just knowing Brennan was there made him press down a little harder on the gas pedal. Whereas it took Parker ten minutes to get home from the lab, Booth was there in about seven. And he was in the medical-legal lab two minutes after that.<p>

He didn't know what was going to happen if he saw Brennan, whether he would kiss her or strangle her, hold her or yell at her, hate her or love her. He just knew he had to see her. And then there was Katy. His daughter he had met and wanted to keep Brooke away from. Thank God he didn't. He loved Brooke like a daughter, but there was something different about Katy since she was his. But the girls had been thrown together because they weren't as snobby as the other kids and were now best friends. Fate works in mysterious ways.

When he actually rushed through the glass doors of the lab, his eyes immediately scanned for Bones. But he didn't see her anywhere. Her office light was on though, meaning she hadn't left for the day so he could wait for her there. It would also be helpful to get answers from her boss, who happened to be walking out of her office.

"Camille!"

She turned around immediately to face Booth. "Seeley, don't call me Camille," she replied with a smile. He didn't return it, and she knew why. Parker had only been gone for about twenty minutes, and she had been expecting his father for the past ten.

"Where is she?"

"She went out with Katy." Booth had been expecting her to play dumb, but this was much worse. Because that meant Parker had been right and she hadn't told him. She had known for at least a week Brennan was back and not mentioned it to him.

"So she's still avoiding me?" His voice was ice cold.

"No, actually she gave that idea up last week after she found out that you had never planned on leaving her for Hannah."

Cam's words sobered his rage a little. He knew that's why she had left; Angela had told him so. But it also meant that Brennan had actually believed it. This was mostly his fault for choosing the shittiest time to agree to distance himself from Brennan back then. At the time, he thought he could explain the situation to her in a few weeks when everything was over. He hadn't wanted to reduce the amount of time around her, but they had agreed not to let anyone know until after the first trimester, including the FBI. So, in his mind, the 'I can't stop talking to my pregnant girlfriend' excuse hadn't been an option. Looking back, of course, he saw that it had been his only choice.

He had spent months agonizing over the last few conversations he had with her right after she left. Replaying every word he could remember. Most nights right before she left, he had noticed that she had been more distant and more like the Bones he had known when they first met. But she always asked him if he was alright. And every time she did, he lied and said he was. The reality was, it was killing him not being able to hold her every night and had been ever since. God, why had he let his bosses dictate his life once again? Every time they did, Brennan got hurt. First there was him firing the Jeffersonian (which was a stupid idea in itself), then having to arrest her dad, and who could forget about him playing dead for two weeks? But this was by far the worst, because it meant she had lived the past seven years believing he had abandoned her and Katy.

It didn't, however, explain how Cam had been able to look him in the eye for seven years, and never once mention she knew where Brennan was. That she knew at least something of his daughter's life. How had she seen what he was going through and remained loyal to Brennan, and not him, after twenty five years of friendship? "How long have you known?"

"About what?"

"Brennan. If she was okay, Katy, everything!"

Cam sighed before answering. "She emailed everyone but you saying she was taking an extended leave of absence the day she left. We all thought she'd be back in a year. But after Katy was born, I don't think she was ready to come back, and then she got comfortable. And with Russ and her dad staying close by her, she had her family back. She would talk about how they got together now, and she seemed happy when she talked about them. But the moment you were brought up, she would change the topic. But you tell from the tone in her writing she was compartmentalizing. She wasn't okay, Seeley.

"And I met Katy when she was two. The trips to North Carolina have been to visit Dr. Brennan and her. Angela and Hodgins have gone down every year, and Sweets and Daisy went down just last summer. You should know, Dr. Brennan only told Angela you were the father. Everyone else just assumed, but she told us you had no idea that she had ever been pregnant and she didn't want to worry you. So why would I tell you that she was pregnant when she left and made you have a heart attack? When you told me that it was your child she was pregnant with last week, that was the first time anyone had confirmed that Katy was yours to me. And I told Dr. Brennan the next time I saw her that she needed to talk to you. But Seeley, I heard her side too, and with her history I probably wouldn't have ever come within a hundred miles of where I thought you were. To her, rationally, you were going back to Hannah because she knew you loved Hannah at one point and thought Brooke was your kid because _you_ were an idiot and didn't tell her otherwise. So, I might have been watching you deal with your demons, but I had to listen to her silently suffer for years because she was trying to give you the life that she thought you wanted."

"Cam, I've told you over and over that I love her. Did you ever tell that?"

"One, you avoided the topic of her until Brooke going to school with Mike was brought up. We all thought you and Hannah had been back together within a month of her disappearance. So, no, I didn't know if you still loved her since the one time you told me you did was after your brain surgery. And even if I had known you did, I wouldn't have told her."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because she was already heartbroken! I told you years ago that if you broke her heart, she would never trust anyone with it again! And you not only broke it once, but twice! I was surprised she gave you another chance after the first time, honestly. But after she ran from you, I wasn't going to dare to try to heal her heart, when you might accidentally break it again."

"Twice? I understand that I screwed up with the whole Hannah and Brooke thing, but when did I ever hurt before that?"

"You're joking, right? How about the four months where you and Hannah were living together before anybody got pregnant? After the case with the surgeon? Any of this sounding familiar?" Booth's heart sunk as he remembered that night in the rain. He had been worried about Bones like everyone else, so when he saw her leave the lab and head towards a bad section of town, he had followed her. And then saved her life as she almost got run over by the car. She repaid him by telling him that she had made a mistake, and then he rejected her. God, he had been an idiot. What was with that eighteen months that sent their relationship to hell, heaven, and then back down again?

"I tried to block that time out," he mumbled. Cam just rolled her eyes.

"Well, Dr. Brennan's ready to talk to you whenever you see her. But Seeley, I swear if you hurt her again, you won't ever get another chance. Especially now that Katy's involved. And if you screw this one up, it's not just your and Dr. Brennan's relationship going down the toilet, but yours with Angela and Hodgins too. Plus, you've got little girls who are two little girls who are best friends, by the way, thrown right in the middle of it, too. And if you hurt either one of them, their mothers are going to be on your ass before you even realize you screwed up."

"I know. I won't screw it up."

Cam nodded before walking away. Booth took it as a sign to go wait for Brennan to return. And where would she return to first? Her office.

It was the first time he had entered the space in seven years. He had avoided it after she left because technically it had became Clark's and Angela moved all of Brennan's stuff out. He had offered to help, but Angela had more or less told him to go to hell. At the time, he had thought it was her way of grieving Brennan's disappearance. Now, however, it was clear she had just been pissed at him.

As Booth looked around the room, he noticed that even though Brennan had changed a few things, it was still clearly her. The artifacts were similar to the ones that used to inhabit her house (if not the same), and the furniture reflected what once sat in the office. So at first glance, it appeared different, but now he knew it was hers, it seemed so obvious.

Booth sat down on the couch as though it was seven years ago. He was tempted to lay down and shut his eyes, but remembered the last time he did that and Bones didn't know he was coming, she ended up sitting on him. That wasn't exactly the way he wanted to see Brennan for the first time again. Though, last time it had gotten him a hug. Of course, that was after brain surgery too.

Booth had been sitting there for a couple of minutes when Katy came storming through the office door. Booth might not have known the girl very well, but he could tell something was wrong. She got the same look on her face that her mother did. Katy was about three steps in the door, when she noticed him sitting there. She just started at him with big, blue eyes that looked like they were about to start crying. And that just about broke Booth's heart.

"Katy, is something wrong?"

She shook her head no, then paused and nodded.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

She came and sat next to him, never meeting his eyes. "Not really, Mr. Booth… But can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah. Sure. Of course."

"You're supposed to love both your parents, right?"

"People usually do," he answered, not knowing where this was going.

"What do you do if you don't like your daddy?"

Booth's jaw dropped. What had Brennan told her? Yes, he had screwed up, but to share that with a six year old? What was she thinking? And a better question, how could he make it up to this little girl and her mother? He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Well, it depends why you don't like your dad. Sometimes, they do what they think is best for you, and other times they just don't think about how their actions could affect you. And then, there are other times when they just make mistakes and don't even realize how much they've hurt anybody, until it's too late."

"Did any of that ever happen with your daddy?"

Booth tensed. He had just told Parker about his abusive father last year, and he wasn't sure if he was ever going to tell Brooke or Katy at this point. But he had to answer the question right now because two innocent eyes were looking at him in anticipation. "Yeah, it happened a lot with him. But I'm sure whatever you're dad did, he's really sorry."

"He just seems like a jerk."

"Maybe if you get to know him, he won't be such a bad guy," Booth tried to sooth.

"But it doesn't seem like he loves me or even likes me."

"Trust me, he loves you more than you know, and regrets not being part of your life every day."

"Then why didn't he want to talk to me?"

That question sent Booth's head reeling. "What makes you think he doesn't?"

"He helped me convince Mommy to let me leave."

"Come again?" He had been sitting there the entire and hadn't talked to Brennan in over seven years. Yeah, he needed to talk to Brennan without Katy around, but he wouldn't do it by making Katy feel like she was unloved. He had already made her and Bones feel that way, and he never wanted to again.

"He stopped Mommy outside of the lab. And he wanted to talk to her about things without me around. He seemed like a know-it-all, but not a good know-it-all. One that really doesn't know anything."

"Did your mom actually say it was your dad?"

"No. But they dated and Mommy said my daddy worked at the FBI and he did."

It didn't take a genius to realize who she was talking about. The only other guy still in the FBI who had dated Bones. "Katy, I had a very smart friend who told me not to jump to conclusions. I know for a fact that Andrew Hacker is not your dad." Because Bones had told him that she never had sex with him. And the fact Katy was _his_ daughter played a part in it too.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Good. Because I don't like him."

"Yeah, me either," Booth told her.

"Why don't you like him?"

"Well, he's my boss for starters. And he doesn't always know what he's talking about. And he's got a big head. We sort of had a thing for the same woman too." _But she loved me in the end… until I screwed up._

"He liked Brooke's mommy and my mommy?"

Booth realized his mistake then. He couldn't tell Katy 'no' because then he would have to explain that he loved Bones. But he knew for a fact Hacker and Hannah had met only once or twice. "Not exactly… It's more complicated than that."

"Does Mommy know he like both of them?"

"She knows she used to date him." Plus, Hacker and Hannah had never been involved.

"What about Brooke's mommy? Does she know?"

"She only knows Andrew Hacker through one of her boyfriends."

"Who's he?"

"Some idiot who managed to mess up the best relationship he ever had."

Katy tilted her head. "What did he do?"

"He followed orders not to talk to his pregnant girlfriend."

"Why would he do something so silly? If she was pregnant, he should have been there for her."

"Yeah, and he's been beating himself up about everyday for the past seven years."

A moment of silence fell over the office for a minute. "I hope my daddy is as good of a daddy as you are."

"You think I'm a good dad?" Booth asked suddenly.

"Yep. Brooke says you're the best daddy ever. If I don't ever meet my daddy, can I share you with Brooke and Parker?" Booth wasn't sure how to respond to his daughter's request. She _wanted_ him to be her dad, even if he wasn't really. And he wanted to be there for her.

"Yeah, of course. I'll always be here for you."

Katy nodded before snuggling up to Booth's side. He protectively put his arm around his baby girl and silently vowed never to let anything hurt her ever again. Booth quickly became lost in thoughts about the past and what would have happened if he had talked to Brennan, while Katy was putting some pieces of the puzzle together. Suddenly she asked, "Does that mean you aren't Brooke's real daddy?"

Booth's eyes shot wide open. "Why do you say that?"

"You said her daddy messed up the best relationship he ever had. And then he's been beating himself up for not being there for the pregnancy. So, was he not there when Brooke was born or is it you but you came back?"

"It's me," Booth admitted. "But not for Brooke and Hannah."

"Then with who?"

A voice came from the doorway. "Us."

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><p><strong>I'm going to say this again. Please don't kill me...<strong>


	16. Reunion of B&B

**Okay, so I have 11:59 when I'm posting this, so it's still technically Monday! And I told you all I would post by today, so I kept my word... Barely.**

**Thanks to meredithgrey23 for betaing.**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1**

* * *

><p>Booth looked up and saw the very person who had starred in just as many of his dreams as nightmares. The woman who had him under her finger since day one, even if he didn't show it until much later. The person whose heart he had broken not once, but twice. The standard for all women in his mind.<p>

Her hair had returned to its natural lighter brown color and Booth swore that he saw some wrinkles around her eyes. She might have aged a little, but to Booth she was still beautiful. And_ their_ daughter was currently snuggled up to his side.

Bones walked into the room with an air of confidence that she almost always seemed to have, but Booth immediately realized there was something different about it. She held herself a little taller, her chin was tilted upwards, and her strides powerful. But her eyes were emotionless like she was compartmentalizing, her lips were in a tight line, and her breathing was too controlled. She was just as scared as he was to be in the room together.

"Bones" was all he could manage to breathe out.

"Booth," she responded, as though it wasn't unusual for him to be sitting in her office. As if it was normal for Katy to be at his side. She was definitely compartmentalizing.

She also refused to look him in the eye. She knew the moment she did that, all irrational hope that this was some dream would disappear. But even as she pretended to act as if everything was normal, she could feel his stare digging into her. Finally, she looked up.

There was an awkward silence as they looked in each other's eyes for the first time in years, completely lost in the moment. There was so much that needed to be said between them. Booth needed to tell her about what happened seven years ago, explain to her that his actions had nothing to do with her, that it was him following orders. Brennan wanted to apologize for taking away his daughter from him. Tell him that even if he didn't want to see her anymore, that she would find a way to let him spend time with Katy.

Finally, Katy couldn't take the silence. "Why are you looking at each other like you wanna eat the other?"

The trance was broken. Booth smiled and squeezed Katy a little while Brennan just shook her head and grinned. "Sweetheart, why don't you go play with Mike?"

"But I don't wanna. What do you mean that Mr. Booth left us?"

"Katy, please go find Angela," Brennan tried again.

"After you tell me what you meant, because it sounds like Brooke's daddy is my daddy!"

Booth saw the uncomfortable look of Brennan's face and decided to try to help her. "Your mom and I need to talk in private, but as soon as we're done we'll come and explain everything to you. We just need to figure some stuff out first."

Katy looked at him suspiciously. "Are you going to be a meanie?"

"No. I pinky promise," Booth swore, holding out his smallest finger.

Katy looked at it then at him before wrapping her tiny pinky around his. She released the phalange hold first. She got up off the couch, and walked towards the door. Once in the doorway, she turned back around to look at the two adults. But her eyes focused on Booth. "I hope you're my daddy and not the know-it-all meanie."

And with that, she headed towards Angela's office.

Brennan moved towards her seat at her desk and faced Booth while he just watched her. She needed space for this conversation, otherwise she might break down. She had known the moment she had seen Parker that Booth would come by soon, which is why she had talked to Katy, but now being in the same room as him was nothing short of awkward. And the guilt was even worse, since she knew she had taken away his daughter from him when he _had_ wanted to be part of her life. How was she ever going to explain it to him that she had thought he didn't want that?

When Booth realized that she was planning on having this conversation from opposite sides of the room, he held back a sigh. He knew she was putting distance between them to protect herself. For not liking psychology, she sure could be the perfect person for a psychologist to study. Of course, according to Sweets, they were even better together. After letting her get almost all the way settled, Booth stood up, stuck his hands in his pocket, and went to lean up against the wall behind her desk. He knew he was invading her space to some degree, but he felt it was necessary to get her to talk to him. And once she settled and noticed he was now behind her, she turned around to face him.

They sat there staring at each other for a few minutes before either could get the nerve to speak. But finally, they both overcame the fear, at the same time.

"I-"

"Booth-"

They both stopped and gave the other a half smile, though they refused to meet the other's eyes. Booth waited a second before saying, "You go first."

He knew what he was in for: yelling, accusations of leaving her, letting her fall again, being a bastard, breaking her heart. All things he knew he deserved. He had screwed everything up by listening to his bosses. She had every right to kick his ass; hell, he'd understand if she never wanted him around Katy. That might be a tough with her and Brooke being friends, and Brennan basically telling her that he was her father. But he would respect it as much as possible, even if he hated it.

Brennan nodded at his statement. The next two words out of Brennan shocked Booth to his core. "I'm sorry."

"You're what?"

Brennan misunderstood his utter shock for a rejection of it. "I misunderstood or was not completely aware of certain events and acted rashly. I know how much you wanted to be involved in our child's life, and I took that opportunity away from you. And for that, I'm truly sorry."

"You can't be serious," Booth stated. _He_ had gone MIA for a month, scaring her into giving everything up. He should be asking if there was any way to spend time with Katy, and maybe eventually her.

"I know that you are probably still angry at me for taking Katy away, but-"

"Why the hell are you apologizing?" Booth had to ask.

"Because I didn't allow you the opportunity to be involved in Katy's life. Is there something else I should be apologizing for?"

"No, but I thought you were going to yell at me or something. You- You can't really think you owe me anything. Not after what I did to you. I screwed up. I had orders to not talk to you, but I should have at least let you know it wasn't your fault! I mean for God's sake, you were pregnant and I was basically going MIA for a few weeks. I thought that I'd be able to explain it to you when everything was said and done, otherwise I never would have listened to my orders. That was the single stupidest thing I've ever done in my life. And I don't have to tell you, I've done some pretty stupid stuff. But none of it compares to not talking to you and letting you know what was going on. Bones, I _lost_ you. And Katy. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can ever let you know how sorry I am for that. I would go back and change it, if I could."

Brennan just looked at him for a minute. He wasn't mad at her at all for taking away Katy; that alone shocked her. But he was also there saying that he missed them. Her. However, that did not explain why he had never mentioned seeing Hannah over the phone.

"What about Hannah?"

Booth's eyes flashed with shock. "I only let her crash at my place because she was pregnant and was living at a hotel. So, I let her live at mine until she found one she liked. By that point the doctors had her on bed rest; she was out of my place as soon as possible though. Plus, I was living in your apartment! Nothing happened, Bones. I swear on Parker, Brooke, _and _Katy's lives. I wouldn't do that to you, not again; not with Katy involved. Besides, whatever I thought I had with Hannah was nothing to what I had with you. It took me about two seconds into our relationship to realize that."

The underlying tone of his last sentence made Brennan's stomach lurch. He couldn't still be in love her, could he? He didn't know her anymore; she didn't know him! She had taken away his daughter from him because she thought that he was ready to leave her, when in reality there was no chance. How could he forgive her for that?

But, he also still had yet to explain why he didn't tell her about Hannah to begin with. "I meant why didn't you tell me you were meeting with her?"

Booth swallowed. It's easy to remember what stupid things you did seven years ago; it's harder to remember why you did them. He sat there silently for a minute searching every corner of his mind for what led to him to act so idiotically. There had to be a reason. He knew there was, but it felt like any time he got close to it, it would leave his mind. He slowly shook his head. He finally whispered, "I was under orders not to talk to you."

"There are other forms of communication. Email. Text. All of which you didn't use. Why not?"

Booth honestly couldn't remember why he had stayed to only phone to keep any contact with her. "I don't remember…"

Brennan however took it as a sign that he didn't want to tell her. She knew that he deserved time with Katy, and she was definitely going to give him that. But this was why she had been able to doubt him all those years ago. Because he had kept the meeting from her. And if he couldn't tell her why, maybe she had a reason to not trust him. He had claimed to love her, but he couldn't remember why he neglected to tell her that his ex-girlfriend asked him to be a father. Yes, he hadn't been allowed to speak with her because of the case. But why not send a message through Cam, Sweets, Angela, Hodgins, or anybody else for that matter? "Right. Claim whatever you want, Booth, but until you can tell me that, I can't believe that you ever loved me the way you've claimed to."

Her accusation hit him like a ton of bricks. He knew that he didn't deserve her trust right now, but the fact that she could doubt everything from their relationship worried him. It made him feel like the lowest scum of the earth. It made him feel like he was worse than the men he killed while in the army, the hundreds of people he had put in jail for murders; worse than Taffet, Broadsky, and Epps combined. Worse than his father. He had promised never to hurt her, and he had. But she was in front of him, telling him that he had a chance for forgiveness if he could just tell her why. And he couldn't.

Brennan sat there, slowly coming to her own conclusion. She had thought, _hoped_, that he would have some answer that might explain his actions in some way. But if there was any, then he didn't want to tell her. And that meant he was hiding something or there was no memorable reason, both of which were unacceptable to her right now. Brennan waited another minute before standing up and moving towards the door.

Her motion to leave shook Booth's core even deeper. She was walking away from him again, and he had no right to stop her. This was worse than last time, because he knew why she was leaving and what she needed to hear to stay. But he couldn't force himself to remember. He squeezed his eyes shut and cursed himself once again for taking the assignment that had done this to them.

_Fuck the FBI for deciding to make a task force to catch the few criminals left twenty years after they had last hurt anyone! Fuck the overzealous federal prosecutor who wanted to make his mark by closing cold cases! Fuck Hacker for telling me about the assignment! I wanted to tell her but- _

Suddenly the elusive memory ran through his head. And his head shot up. "Wait!"

Brennan stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him. Anger had already taken over her face, and Booth knew that if she didn't like his story then the only way he would ever see Katy was without her mother.

"I remember."


	17. Truth in the Past Part I

**I'm sorry this took so long to post. I told you from the beginning that there might not be quick updates. This chapter is part 1/4 of a seven year flashback though, if that helps. No Brennan in this chapter, too, but sh's kinda in the next two...**

**Also, I need your guys help. I'm taking a course in masculinity, and for an essay I have to analyze how masculinity is shown in book, movie, _TV show_, advertisement, etc... So of course I chose Bones. I wanna compare Booth's masculinity to Hodgins' and Sweets'. However my prof wants me to use specific scenes as evidence. So are there any ideas you guys could give me for a good show of character for any of those three? **

**And as always I want to thank MeredithGrey23 for being my beta.**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1**

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><p><em><strong>Seven years earlier<strong>_

Booth was sitting in his office looking over some paperwork from his and Bones' last case. It hadn't been a particularly difficult case, but with the news that Bones was pregnant still playing continuously in his head, he had basically tried to keep her in a bubble. Of course, she hadn't been particularly fond of that idea and had subtly rebelled against his acts. To anyone who didn't know about the change in the partners, it would have seemed normal; which was good considering they still had to tell the FBI. And Booth had a feeling that his bosses wouldn't like hearing about the change through the grapevine, but he and Bones had decided that it would be best to wait and tell everyone after she reached her second trimester. Plus, it would give them proof that they could continue doing their job while in a relationship and her pregnant.

He had just finished texting Bones, who was going out to lunch with Angela for the first time in a while, when his favorite boss came in. "Agent Booth."

"Assistant Director Hacker, I was just working on my report from the last case. I'll send it to you in just a minute-"

"I'm not here to talk about your last case."

Booth held in a sigh. That was the only case he had at the moment, and last time Hacker had come to him about something other than work it had been to try to get into Bones' pants. Booth hadn't helped him the first time and was pretty sure he might deck Hacker for bringing up the idea of him and Bones going out again. It had been like a year and a half. Booth was pretty sure that even the Bones from a few years ago would have known that there was no hope of any relationship.

"Sir?"

"You've been requested for a temporary transfer effective immediately."

Booth shot up out of his chair. "What? No way! Bones and I are partners! You can't separate us!"

"Sit down and relax, Booth." He did as he was told and leaned back in his chair. "It has nothing to do with your and Temperance's work. However, personal lives…"

Booth felt his muscles tense up, but tried not to let it show. Had someone found out about them and the baby? "What do our personal lives have to do with anything?"

"Not yours, hers. It seems that the new prosecutor wants to go after an old group of criminals. Most have already been convicted but a few have slipped through the cracks."

He relaxed a little again, but not much. "You're talking about the bank robbing group Bones' parents were involved with in the early and mid-seventies." Were they really going to try to go after Max again? He had been staying clean for the most part, not wanting to jeopardize his time with Bones.

"You're familiar with the group," Hacker said happily.

"With all due respect," which wasn't much, "I think you knew that before you came in here."

Hacker just smirked and nodded. "I did my research. You arrested Max Keenan, who was a known member of the group."

Booth's stomach lurched. They seriously weren't really going after Max again, were they? He had already been tried and found innocent, no small thanks to Bones. "And he wasn't convicted."

"Maybe, but according to agents who worked the case back in the seventies, Keenan and his wife were the smartest in the group."

_Well, duh!_ Booth thought. _They're Bones' parents! They aren't a couple of idiots! _Out loud he said, "Sir, I was only put on that case after a body was found with connections to Max Keenan." He was stalking Russ and Brennan! Booth had personally felt Max deserved a medal for protecting his family, especially in retro spec.

"Right. Well, you still brought him in. And they want you on the team."

"How long much time would it take? I mean, murders are kinda my and Bones specialty. I mean, I know the squints are good, but I'm not sure they can prove forty year old robberies. Most of the evidence is kinda useless at this point, though."

"They don't want the Jeffersonian, Booth. Just you. In fact, you're under orders not to talk to Temperance at all."

Booth just about fell out of his chair. Not talk to Bones. That would be like asking him to take out his gun and shoot himself in the leg. It just wasn't going to happen, if he got a say in it. "Then I'm definitely not accepting the transfer."

"Maybe I should have made this clearer. You don't have a choice," Hacker told him as though it was nothing.

"What?" If Booth's looks could kill, then Hacker would have been laying on the floor. "What do you mean 'I don't have a choice'?"

"I mean you've already been transferred."

Booth was about to lunge over his desk and strangle Hacker. He _had_ to take the transfer that wouldn't let him talk to Bones? That had to break some of his rights. "Sir, don't I get any say in this?"

"No. The director likes this guy and wants to give him everything he asks for."

"And he doesn't want me talking to Bones?"

"He doesn't want anything messing up his possible case."

"Then he shouldn't put me on in the tasks force!"

"Booth, you're good at your job. You always want to catch the bad guys. And Temperance is usually right there with you. But with her father knowing these men, she might not be as comfortable with the idea."

Booth just looked at Hacker as if he were an idiot. This was the same woman who tried to arrest her own father. "She'll be all for catching these guys. They put a hit out on her mom that killed her!"

"But if she tells Keenan, and he happens to let it slip to any of his old friends then the entire project is done for."

In that moment, Booth wondered if Hacker had completely lost his marbles. "They killed his wife! Max killed two people who were _threatening_ to hurt Bones and Russ. He had McGregor killed because he killed Christine Brennan! What makes you think that he's going to still be talking to anyone from that group? They ran from them in the seventies and then ran again when Bones was fifteen! He's not exactly on speaking terms with them!"

"Hey, fight it out with the prosecutor. I'm just the messenger."

"Well, I'm not willing going to join this tasks force."

"You can fight me all day if you want, you've already been reassigned. And part of that is not talking to Temperance."

Booth was ready to slug him, but instead took a deep breath and tried a different approach. "Sir, Bones and I have had a rough past couple of months. Between Broadsky and Vincent, I just don't think it's a good idea to throw something else into the mix."

"As noble as that sounds, everyone knows Temperance can take care of herself. She can handle two weeks without you."

Booth was about to respond when his phone rang. He looked to Hacker who just gave his silent permission to answer it. He hoped it was Brennan.

"Booth."

"Seeley… It's Hannah." Booth knew his back straightened once again. Of all the times for her to call…

"Oh, uh, hi. How've you been?"

"Okay, I guess. What about you?"

"Good. I've been good," he answered, noticing Hacker was still in the room.

"Listen, I'm back in DC and was wondering if we could grab lunch. I need to talk to you about some things."

"Lunch? I don't know, I'm kind of busy-"

"It's important, Seeley. Please. I know we didn't end on the best of terms, but I really need to talk to you."

Booth sighed. Bones was already having lunch with Angela. And he could tell her about it tonight when he called her that night. Or next time he didn't have Hacker or somebody standing over his shoulder. "Okay. Is everything alright?"

"I'll explain it to you at lunch. Founding Fathers okay?" That made him worry a little. Sure, things with he and Hannah were long over, but he still cared about her as a person.

"Sure. Meet at twelve-thirty?"

"Thank you, Seeley."

And with that the phone conversation ended. Booth sighed and shook his head before looking up at his boss. "Sir, is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No. Just wanted to tell you one more time to avoid talking to Temperance."

"And what am I supposed to do if she calls me?"

"Make it as quick as possible. Some of the guys upstairs have orders to check your phone every few days and make sure you aren't having long conversations with her. Or send her texts that could compromise the mission."

"What the hell? That's got to be illegal." That meant they would be able to see anything personal he sent her too! That meant no baby text!

"Like I said, this new guy gets everything he wants."

"Can I at least let her know I can't talk to her?" Booth asked in distain.

"When the case is over." And with that Hacker walked away leaving a pissed off Booth.


	18. Truth in the Past Part II

**Hey everyone! So, I think I'm going to start posting once a week, maybe twice if I can get a chapter done fast enough. But I will finish this story eventually. :)**

**Now, who wants to see _all_ of Booth and Hannah's conversation from chapter one? **

**As always, thanks to meredithgrey23 for being an awesome beta!**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1.**

* * *

><p>Booth walked into the Founding Fathers at twelve-thirty. He had spent the past hour trying to come up with ways to tell Brennan he couldn't talk with her that wouldn't make her suspicious enough to go looking. (Yes, he was going to disobey a direct order. But it was from Hacker.) Of course, the action in itself was just that. He knew he couldn't email or text her, and apparently not call her. They had taken him off active cases, so he had no official reason to go to the lab and if they were watching him that closely, he suspected that they'd watch the Jeffersonian's visitor logs too. He considered going to her house, but was worried that they'd spend someone to tail him or watch Bones' apartment. He might be spending too much time with Hodgins if he was that paranoid, but he'd judge that in a couple of days depending if he caught any tails.<p>

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn't even see the pregnant woman get up from a booth to greet him. "Hi, Seeley."

When he looked over at Hannah's voice he felt his entire world do a three-sixty. She was standing in front of him pregnant. Very pregnant, in fact. Like second trimester pregnant. That would be about the time that they broke up. _Oh, please God, no. _

"Hannah," he answered, his eyes never leaving the baby bump.

"You see why I needed to talk to you in person."

His head shot up. "It-it's mine?"

"Only if you want it to be. Maybe we should sit down."

"Sitting," Booth answered as if it was a foreign concept. "Sitting would be good."

Once settled, a waiter came over to take their drink orders. Hannah had water. Booth wanted a beer, but since he had to go back to work settled for coffee. When the waiter left Booth looked to Hannah. "So, you're pregnant. With my kid."

"No," she said as the door chimed open to the bar. "Listen, right after we broke up, I went to Florida for a story. When I was there, I got drunk one night and met a nice guy. Unfortunately, I don't remember his last name. But he listened to me talk about you, and told me about his own lost love. We bonded. Then kissed. And I think you can figure out what happened from there."

Booth let out a long sigh. He wasn't this kid's father too. He felt a little better about the situation. "Thank God. But why are you telling me. It's not my business."

"Do you remember me telling you I wasn't ready to settle down?"

"Yeah. That's part of why we broke up."

"Well, I'm starting to be ready."

Booth watched her trying to understand what she was getting at. "Why are you telling me?"

"Because I want your help in raising my daughter."

Booth was taken a little aback. "Wow. That I was not expecting."

"So, you aren't mad?" Hannah asked.

"Why would I be mad?" Booth questioned right back. He wasn't this child's father, and it was kind of weird to have his ex ask him to help raise a child that wasn't his. But there was no reason for him to be mad.

"Because I rejected your marriage proposal and then came back five months later asking you to be a father."

Why did she have to bring that up? Especially so bluntly. He sighed, "Hannah."

"Seeley, you're one of the best men I know, and you've always wanted another kid. _You_ were the one that wanted to settle down. I'm ready for that now, and there's a child involved."

"It's not that simple. You told me no, and you're back now wanting me to be a father-"

"I only said no to marriage. You said that you couldn't go back to just dating," she clarified. "And I'm not asking for that."

"I know. What you're asking for is more, and I'm not sure if I can do it. Not right now." There was a little commotion from the table next to them, but Booth was a little focused on the conversation to really pay attention. "And probably never."

"Why not?" Hannah pushed.

"Because I've moved on. And I'm not willing to risk the relationship. Not again."

Hannah's face became one of a little shock. "God, Seeley, if I had known, I never would have asked. I just didn't think either one of us could be in a serious relationship so quickly, you know?"

"It's been five months. And we've only been together a little over a month."

"And it's already that serious?" Hannah asked. Booth couldn't blame her. It had taken three months before Booth would call what they had remotely serious.

"Serious as a heart attack."

Hannah nodded. "So, you and Temperance are finally giving it a shot?"

Booth was lucky he hadn't taken a sip of his coffee, otherwise it would have sprayed all over the place. "Come again?"

"Hey, you're the one who told me about your relationship. And if it's that serious that quickly, it obviously with someone you already knew. And since you look like someone just found out the biggest secret in the world, I think I'm right."

"Yeah, I just wasn't expecting the question… And I'd like it if you didn't tell anyone. You now, the whole partners fraternizing thing kinda puts us at odds with my bosses."

"I can keep a secret," she promised.

"Thanks, Hannah. And you know, if you ever need a babysitter or something I'll help out. But I can't raise three kids at once, you know?"

"Three?"

Booth silently cursed. His brain had forgotten that no one knew that Bones was pregnant. And why would Hannah of all people know? She hadn't seen Bones in months.

"Temperance is pregnant too?"

"Seriously, you can't tell anyone this!"

"I won't. But you two move fast once you cross the line."

Booth gave a little smile. "Tell me about it."

"What made you two finally take the plunge?"

"Broadsky."

"The sniper you served with?"

"Yeah, he shot one of Bones' interns and… she had been standing right next to him. I- I couldn't let her stay by herself so she stayed with me. And I think you can figure out what happened from there," he repeated her words back at her.

Hannah nodded as the waiter came back to take their orders. Booth quickly changed the topic from his and Bones' relationship and tried to find out more about what had been going on with Hannah. Not because he didn't want to talk about it, but he had a fear that Hacker or somebody from the FBI would walk in and overhear. And then Bones might kill him. The hormones were affecting her, and her rage was more terrifying than before.

Before he knew it, he and Hannah were paying their bills and going their separate ways.

"I'm going to be on the road for the next month, but I'd love to see you and Temperance when I get back."

"I'll talk to Bones about it when I can." _As soon as I can get transferred back to murders and off forty year old thefts_.

"Great. It was a good seeing you again, Seeley. I'm happy everything is working out for you."

"Same here. And hey, if you ever remember about your kid's father let me know and I'll see what I can dig up for you."

"All I can remember is Tim. And I don't think that will help you much."

"Like I said, let me know if you remember more."

And with that the two walked away from each other, happy to have a friendship come from a failed romance.


	19. Truth in the Past Part III

**Hey, everyone! Sorry I didn't get this up sooner! Midterms were last week and so I was studying all week. But I know you guys don't care about my excuses.  
>I do have one thing I want to do a little rant on. If you don't care you might as well skip on down to the story, though my rant is Bones related. Okay, so I was rewatching Two Bodies in the Lab (1st episode with Hot Blooded). And it where Booth says that he would rather see a girl from across a crowded room and have that magic feeling (*cough* lecture hall at American University? *cough*) and when Brennan says there's no such thing as magic, he responds with "Oh, there's magic". And Zack basically tells everyone how easy it is to swap magnetic strips on cards, like what he did to Sweets at the psych ward. Just saying, I thought those two instances were interesting...<strong>

**Anyway, disclaimers in chapter 1.**

* * *

><p>Booth had been back in his office for about ten seconds before he had a constant stream of people coming in an out for a good fifteen minutes. Then Hacker informed him he had to be at a meeting for the stupid, new task force he had been forced to join, so Booth was stuck in that meeting for two hours. And as soon as he got back to his office, Hacker basically handed him follow up reports to finish before he was completely transferred the next day that needed both their signatures. It was clear to Booth he would be at the office until late. Damn, and he was supposed to pick up Bones tonight too. He had dropped her off at the lab, so she didn't have her car. So, when Hacker left to "answer the call of mother nature" Booth pulled out his phone and called Bones.<p>

It rang three times before she answered. "Brennan."

"Hey, Bones, bad news. Hacker piled a lot of paperwork on me; I'm not going to get outta here until late."

"That's okay; we can have dinner late."

"I'm talking about being here until like ten tonight. And I don't want you working that long." She shouldn't be working that long. Wasn't that stressful on something? If it was up to Booth, she would be putting in fewer hours at the lab, but he knew there was no way he'd ever be able to talk her into that.

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Booth!"

"I know. But you're, you know, pregnant." He whispered the last word, looking out his door to make sure that no one passing by would be able to hear the conversation.

"I'm perfectly aware of my current condition. Which is why I'll leave in about two hours."

He looked at the time. Four-thirty. "Whoa, I was going to pick you up in an hour."

"Yes, but since you aren't going to be giving me a ride, I'll call a taxi around six- fifteen."

"Five-fifteen." That's how long it would take a taxi to get there at five-thirty. When he was going to pick her up.

"Six." At least she was going down.

"Five-thirty," he tried compromising.

"Seven."

"You can't go up. You're supposed to say five-forty-five and me give into that." He knew she knew how this was supposed to work, but thought maybe she had forgotten for a moment. Though, he knew she was probably just pushing his buttons.

"But I don't want to leave at five-forty-five. I'd much rather leave at seven." _Of course she did, _Booth thought with an eye roll_._

"Fine, six-fifteen," Booth agreed.

"Okay, you'll come over tonight?"

Booth wanted nothing more than to say yes. But he then remembered Hacker basically telling him that he was under surveillance. And he didn't want any FBI agents poking around Bones. She'd probably get suspicious and hurt one of them which would cause all sorts of new problems. But he also wanted to tell her, but knew that might get him fired by Hacker or if he walked back in. "I wish I could. But I think I'm just going to crash at my place tonight."

"Oh," she answered disappointedly. "Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

Booth barely heard her as he saw Hacker coming back towards his office. He tried to stand up out of the line of sight so his boss couldn't tell he was on the phone, however in the process of standing he managed to knock over one of the stacks of paper. He immediately began to pick up the papers. "Yeah. I gotta go. See ya, Bones."

He hung up just as Hacker opened the door. He knew he had cut it short with Bones but between the papers and Hacker, he hadn't seen much of a choice. Hacker just looked down upon him with a smile as Booth collected the papers that had fallen to the ground.

The next few weeks were practically living hell. Booth was surrounded by people at all times it seemed, and he swore he had seen a black car following him several times. He didn't know why it was such a big deal he didn't talk to Bones, but somebody was taking every precaution to avoid it.

And Bones always seemed to call him when somebody else was in the room, so Booth could never really talk to her. He tried to drop settle clues, like asking how Max was or that he couldn't talk and things like that. But Bones didn't always do subtle. And it was even worse when she would start talking about her pregnancy. Booth wanted to be more involved in the conversation, but knew somebody would be smart enough to figure out what he and Bones were talking about. So he could only answer with vague yeses and nos. And it was killing him to no end.

Slowly he noticed that Brennan was pulling away from him. He couldn't blame her, but he needed her to understand that he didn't have much of a choice. He started telling her more and more he couldn't _really _talk to her, and that he was sorry. He knew that he would have to grovel in the near future.

Finally, one day, somebody at the FBI realized that they had some of their best agents sitting around looking at old case files that didn't lead anywhere. It had been a little over a month since Booth had worked a murder case before the director disbanded the group. And Booth could honestly say that was the fourth happiest day of his professional career (behind meeting Bones, partnering with Bones, and seeing Taffett convicted).

Booth had immediately gone over to the lab to take Brennan out to lunch. He hadn't seen her in a month because of the stupid order and he had some groveling to do. Actually, a lot of it. Plus, it had been a few days since she had called and he was pretty sure she was mad at him, not that he could blame her.

He didn't notice anything was wrong until he entered the lab. No one was on the platform for starters or really even running between offices. And there were boxes outside of Bones office. The last one sent chills up Booth's spine as he rushed over to see why the cardboard containers were there. _Maybe Bones was just moving stuff. Redecorating or something like girls do every now and then,_ he tried to convince himself. But deep down, he already knew the reality.

He saw Angela with packing tape standing over one of the boxes, sealing it shut. "Angela, what are you doing?"

Her head shot up and Booth swore he had never seen as much hate in her eyes as he did in that moment. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"It looks like your packing some of Bones' stuff up."

"Good job, Booth. Now if you'll excuse me, I have about half of her office to finish packing up." Booth looked past her to see that was all there was left of her office. He knew that Angela would never pack up Bones' office without her permission. And that brought up a thought that scared him shitless.

"Where's Bones? I need to talk to her about something."

"Oh, _now_ you want to talk to her. Where have you been for the past month?"

"I was busy at work."

"We haven't had any cases."

Booth sighed. "That's not the only part of my job." Just his favorite part.

"Sorry, maybe I just assume that since you used to spend all of your time here, it was."

Booth realized that Angela was pissed at him, but he didn't know why. And right now he was still more concerned with where Brennan was. "Is Bones in Limbo?"

"No, she's not."

"Well, where is she? I need to tell her some stuff." _Like why I've been an ass for the last month._

"I don't know. She didn't tell me."

"Any idea when she'll be back?"

"No, because when she runs she doesn't give anyone an itinerary."

Angela's words made Booth stop all functions. He swore his heart even stopped beating for a second, his brain completely focused on one words. 'Runs'.

"You don't mean… She didn't go on a dig, did she?"

"I don't know. She didn't tell me where she was going."

Booth slowly felt the word around him falling apart. Bones had left. Without telling him. She was running from him. From them. What made her run? Was she scared? Angry? Did she leave by herself or did someone force her to? If so, who? Where was she? Was she okay? Was the baby? Would she come back before the baby was born? Or let him know she wasn't in any danger?

As thoughts like these swirled in Booth's head, he became increasingly worried. He was about ready to panic. Finally, he realized Angela was just giving him a _do you still need something or can you leave_ glare. "H- How long as she been gone?" Booth heard himself stumble over the words, but didn't care.

"Three days. I'm surprised you realized she was gone so quickly," Angela said, venom still spilling out of her voice.

"I- She's been gone for three days and I haven't noticed? Damn it!" he said. He had to find her. He quickly turned around and headed out of the lab. He had to go by her apartment; he had to _see _she was actually gone.

He rushed to her home and used his key to let himself in. He opened the door, expecting to see some evidence that she had lived there. Instead, what he found broke his heart. _Crushed,_ her voice corrected him. Her apartment was completely empty of all furniture. He walked from room to room, looking for a note or something to let him know where she was. Instead, he found nothing but dust until he reached the bedroom. Where the dresser used to be laid several things he wasn't expecting. The socks and boxers he had begun to keep there, along with a few t-shirts he had _lost_ over the past six years. He rushed to the closet to see his spare blue suit hanging there next to a pair of jeans and sweatpants.

Where the bedside table used to be was a single picture frame that held a photo of the two of them from the park. It had been about a week after they had begun their relationship and they had taken Parker to the park. He had just gotten a camera and was taking pictures of anything and everything. The boy managed to snap a picture that caught the two of them in a lover's embrace with their foreheads together. Parker had given it Booth for the couple the next time he saw his father. Booth had put it by Bones' bed, so even when he wasn't there to wake up with her in the morning, she would still have something of him.

But now it was sitting alone, and the only thing she had left in the room with it were his clothes. He went over and picked it up. It was only then, he let the realization hit him completely. Bones had left him, and he had no idea where she was. His legs gave out from under him and Booth slowly slid to the ground staring at the picture. Before he knew it, a small puddle had dropped onto the picture. And then another. And another.

Booth wiped the tears from his face and then the picture. He knew what he had to do. He had to find her. He needed to apologize for agreeing to not talk to her. Help get rid of whatever fear had made her run. Let her know that he loved her, and always would. Be there for her and their son or daughter. Be there for _her_.


	20. Truth in the Past Part IV

**Disclaimers in chapter 1**

* * *

><p>Within the hour, he was back at the Hoover Building running a trace on her credit cards. He had her on the no fly list, too. He was doing anything he could do to find her. However, none of her credit cards had been used since she withdrew cash several days before, and it had been a lot of cash. There had been no reports of her bank being active since then, either. He tried calling Max and Russ, but got both of their answering machines. He left messages for them to call them as soon as they could. He told them he hadn't heard from Bones and was worried about her.<p>

And then he went to run her social security number to see if anything would pop up. He knew it should be in her official file, but when he went to get it, the space was blank. He immediately went to her arrest record from when she shot the senator's aide, knowing he had put in into that file, but it had been become classified and he didn't have access to it! What the fuck? He had been the arresting officer! He went to every known source, looking for the damn number and couldn't find it. He spent all night searching for some clue as to where Bones could be and didn't even notice when people began to file in the next morning. He was determined and focused on finding her.

It was this way for the next month; he only took time away from his search when he had Parker. Even his bosses seemed to know something had happened to Brennan, because they didn't give him any cases for the squints to work on. There had been one point when he thought he had found her, but Rebecca had called him in the midst of it asking him when he was picking up Parker and when he returned the page had been refreshed and her name was gone.

He knew other agents were starting to talk about him. How he never left his office, how he had lost a lot of weight and looked about fifteen years older. There were rumors and speculations going around that all had one thing in common: Brennan. Some said she had been taken and he was trying to find her, others said she had run from him because he made her feel uncomfortable, and then there were dozens of stories in between. But Booth ignored them all, only wanting to find her.

One day, everything in his pattern changed with a single phone call. "Booth."

"Seeley, it's Hannah."

"Hi, Hannah," he said, focusing on the computer in front of him. He was sure if he stared at it long enough, it would tell him exactly where Brennan was.

She waited a moment for him to say something, but when he didn't continue she said, "I'm back in town now. I was wondering if you and Temperance would be interested in having dinner some time."

Booth's attention immediately became focused on the conversation. Did Hannah think this was funny? Inviting him _and_ Bones to dinner? Was she just trying to—oh, she probably didn't know that Bones was gone. She had been gone since her disappearance. "That's not going to happen."

"Why?"

"Because Brennan is gone."

"What do you mean _gone_?"

"I mean she's completely disappeared."

Hannah sighed. "What did you do, Seeley?"

"I didn't do anything!" he practically shouted into the phone. Okay, that wasn't true, but the task force he had been a part of was still a need-to-know type thing.

"Well, obviously you did something. Temperance doesn't do things without a reason."

"Hannah," he said testily.

"All I'm saying is that from what you told me about your relationship, she goes back and forth between protecting herself and protecting you. And if you've got a kid involved, then she'll be protecting that child too."

Booth already knew all of this! He had been the one to try to teach Brennan that she didn't need to have her walls up all of the time. He grumbled, "I know. Look, this isn't a good time. Can we schedule dinner or something for some other time?"

"Sure. What are you doing?"

"Looking for her."

There was a silence before, "When was the last time you took a night off?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"This past weekend. I had Parker."

"And before that?"

"Two weeks before that when I had Parker," he admitted. Okay, so he spent his free time looking for Brennan. Was that a crime?

"And how much sleep have you been getting?"

"Two, three hours a night."

"So, are you planning on killing yourself before you find Temperance?"

"What?"

"You're going to crash if you don't start taking care of yourself, Seeley. And I don't think anyone wants to see you do that. And what would Temperance say if she saw how you were treating yourself? I've been talking to you for five minutes, and I can tell you're suffering, both physically and emotionally. You need to take a break."

"I will, once I've found her."

"And what if that never happens?" Hannah asked softly. "Are you going to work yourself to death? What will happen if Temperance comes back with your child?"

"You're acting like I'm suicidal!"

"With the way you're acting, you might be! I know you well enough to know that you won't give up on this. Just don't make Parker lose a father in the process."

"Hey, this has nothing to do with Parker! Nothing's changed there!" Booth growled into the phone.

"For now. But Seeley, what happens when you find something right before you leave to go pick up Parker? Are you going to follow the path that might lead you to Temperance, or go get him?"

Booth hesitated. He would have to get Parker, but what if it was something that led to Bones? He wouldn't be able to just ignore it. Plus, what if it disappeared like the last clue he had for her? He would probably call Rebecca to pick up Parker, and then go looking for Brennan… He saw Hannah's point.

"Look, I'm only trying to be your friend. But you should probably take one night off and get some decent sleep."

"Yeah, okay," he agreed not sure if he actually would. "What about you? Where are you staying?"

"I get my eight hours. And I'm staying at the Hilton until I find an apartment."

"Why don't you just crash at my place until you find a place? It's probably cheaper."

"Because you'll be using your bed and Parker's was too small for me before I was pregnant."

"I haven't been staying there," he admitted quietly. He had actually been renting out Bones' place and sleeping in a bed that he had bought after the first two weeks of sleeping on the floor.

"You haven't been sleeping at your office have you? You have enough problems with your back!"

"No. Her place." The only time he ever left the office was to go get wasted or to go to her apartment. He had moved most of the necessities in there within the first two weeks.

"That's not healthy."

"Maybe not, but it makes me feel a little closer to her."

Hannah sighed over the phone. "I hope you know what you're doing," she told him before hanging up the phone.

"Yeah, me too," he told his empty office.


	21. Truth in the Past Part V

**I swear I'm alive and have not given up on this story! I meant to have this up a while ago, but school got in the way and then there was a problem with the site letting me beta, meredithgrey23 (who's awesome by the way), send me the revised chapter. If you really want details about why it took me so long to update PM me and I'll tell you. Just know I don't plan on letting so much time go by without posting again. And I hope that there are still some people out there reading this...**

**Also this is the last of the flashback chapters, and please don't ask me to kill any characters at the end of this one. Just asking that now.**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1**

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><p>Hannah called Rebecca to find out if she knew how bad Booth was. Of course, he had kept it hidden from his ex and now Booth had both women on him to not focus solely on finding Brennan. They both told him that if he was smart he would continue to look for her, but that she wouldn't want it to consume his whole life. And as much as he hated to admit it, he knew Bones would give him some spiel about how his actions were irrational and unhealthy, if she had been around, too. So, he did start to cut back on the number of hours he spent at the office and he was assigned new cases, though he noticed that they weren't cases the Jeffersonian needed to be associated with. He wasn't sure if he was grateful or angry.<p>

Slowly, instead of spending six hours every day looking for Brennan, he was spending three, and the other four working on homicides. Every time he opened a new case report, before he saw the name or description, he had a fear he was going to look down and see Brennan. Afraid that Angela had been wrong and she didn't run from him, but instead had been taken. He knew it was unlikely, but it was still something that worried him.

His nights were very different. Instead of spending them tracking down clues for her, he usually ended up at a bar having a few shots of whatever was strongest. He usually stopped himself before he got too wasted, but every now and then, he didn't. And the next day always just seemed like a lower circle of hell. Until one day, he did something that seemed like the light at the end of the tunnel… Or maybe it was just the deepest pit of hell. He picked up a pool stick and laid down a twenty.

He knew it was idiotic, but if it could keep his mind off her for a few hours it wouldn't be so bad. Plus, he'd been through the program; he could quit when he wanted to.

But his nighttime activities rarely impacted his work, and no one seemed the wiser about his slip back into gambling. Booth had always assumed if he ever gambled, somehow everyone would know the next day, and that wasn't the case. So, it continued.

At least until he made the mistake of playing online poker one night after Parker went to bed. He figured his son would be out like a light in a few minutes, and it would help him to relax. He had been playing about fifteen minutes when Parker came out for a glass of water.

"Are you playing cards online?" he asked as he came to sit next to Booth. Booth about had a heart attack at his son's voice.

"Um, yeah."

"Poker?"

"Yeah, this is my last hand though."

Booth clicked the button to reveal the last card, and found he had a full house. And a moment later his cash pile went up some as he won. Parker noticed the number increase. "You won?"

"Yeah, bub, I did."

"Cool. Can I play?"

"No, but you can go to bed," Booth told him, leaving the game and tucking his son into bed before going and taking a shower before doing the same.

The following Sunday, Rebecca came and picked up Parker like always. She asked how he was doing this week, and like always he told her fine. She never believed him, but always let it go.

And it only got worse when she came storming into his office midmorning on Monday. To say seeing her there had been a shock to Booth would be an understatement. "Rebecca, what are you doing here?"

"Last night I asked Parker if anything exciting happened this weekend. He told me about you playing cards online."

Booth opened his mouth, but was cut short.

"I know you're having a rough time with Temperance's disappearance, but that doesn't mean you have to start gambling again. What type of role model are you setting for Parker? What do you plan on telling him when you go broke? You have a steady job but you give away your paycheck to anyone who can beat you in a game of chance? That you can't stop yourself? Are you really going to throw away the last seven years of self-control because Dr. Brennan left? Tell me, how am I supposed to let you near Parker when I know you can't control your problem again?"

"Rebecca, it's not that-"

"Don't you dare tell me it's not a big deal! It's a huge deal! And if you don't get back into a program, I swear to God I won't let you see Parker."

"Hey, I'm a great father!" Booth reminded her.

"I know. But I won't let my son see you dig yourself deeper into whatever whole you've made. He practically idolizes you; I'm not going to let you crush that when he's still just a kid."

Booth sighed. He knew, logically, she was right. But that didn't mean it didn't feel like she was manipulating him. In a way, she was; but it was only to help him.

"Did you tell anyone else about this?" he asked her.

"Hannah, because I called your old house again on accident. She could tell something was wrong, and I thought she should know. I was ready to call Jared or Camille and tell them what was going on."

"Don't," Booth told her. "I'll get it back under control."

"Good. But Seeley, you really need to talk to somebody."

"And who do you think will understand my gambling problem and pregnant girlfriend leaving me?"

"I know you've seen someone before. The double name guy."

"Gordon Wyatt is now a chef."

"Then what about the psychologist you work with? Dr. Sweets?"

Booth hesitated. Last time he had an actual appointment with him, it had ended with his Bones breaking his heart. "No."

"Do you know anyone else?" Rebecca asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, but-"

"Then call Dr. Sweets," she told him before walking out of the room.

To Booth's credit, he did start going to gambler anonymous meetings again, blocked all of the gambling websites he could find from his computer, and begin avoiding any bar with a pool table. Rebecca had kept Parker one weekend from him, just to show him she was serious, but quickly came to realize that he wasn't going to let anything jeopardize time with his son.

Hannah took a different approach. She began to ask Booth to accompany her to the last few of her doctor appointments, trying to keep him occupied with something besides Brennan's disappearance. He had agreed to tag along. Her doctor was great, but there was one problem. His name was Paul Lidner. Booth had about three hours after the appointment before Cam called asking when he and Hannah had gotten back together. Being in the middle of his daily two hour look for Brennan, he had brushed her off telling her it wasn't what she thought.

"What is it then?"

"She just wants a little support. And it's not like I can't help her out," he had replied as he studied the slow withdrawals from his missing partner's account. They were all going into separate bank accounts all over the country. She was trying to make him lose her money trail.

"You better know what you're getting yourself into, Booth."

"I do, Cam."

Truth was, he didn't. Hannah slowly began asking him for more and more help as Paul restricted her more and more. Before Booth knew it, he was going to every appointment and Lamaze class with her. He felt like he was betraying Bones again, but clearly she didn't want him anymore. She had run. Out of fear, out of annoyance, he didn't know. He was still searching for her every day, but trails were becoming weaker, and anyone who might know where she was had either disappeared too (Max) or refuse to speak to him (Angela). Booth wasn't giving up, but he knew of at least one little girl who was going to need a father.

So he told Hannah that he would help with Brooke. She told him that she didn't want for her daughter to be a replacement for the child he had lost, and he swore she wouldn't. Hannah knew he was lying (whether he realized it or not), so she agreed under one condition.

"You have to talk to Sweets. I don't want your issues coming up with Brooklyn."

"Sweets? That's the only way you'll let me help you with your kid? You were the one who asked me two and a half months ago."

"That was before I knew about you and Temperance. Or that she left and you starting to _gamble_ again."

"I've been going to meetings again," he answered, looking at the ground like a guilty child.

"You still have to talk to him before I let you do anything but babysit."

Booth had weighed his options carefully. He knew where Hannah was coming from, but didn't think it was necessary. But he also knew that if he wanted to help her, he would have to talk to Sweets. At least he knew whatever he told Sweets would never leave the psychologist's office. So, he ended up agreeing to Hannah's terms.

The first meeting Booth set up with him was a little weird.

"So, you really want to talk to me as a professional psychologist?" Sweets checked for the third time.

"Yes, Sweets. Why is that so hard to believe? You were my shrink for three years."

"Yeah, but you spent all that time telling me that I was just a kid. But hey, if you want to talk I'm here to listen."

"And whatever I say won't ever leave this room, meaning you can't ever publish it in a book or anything."

"Not unless I ask you first." Booth gave him a look to let him know that was never happening.

"Fine. I need to talk to you about a relationship I was in."

Sweets' ears perked up. "How long were you seeing her? I'm assuming it was a woman."

"For God's sake, of course it was a woman! I'm straight!"

Sweets considered asking if he thought there was anything wrong with not being straight, but decided that Booth must seriously need to talk to him. Plus, he had a good feeling he knew what this was about. He might have only exchanged a few emails with Dr. Brennan, but he knew she was pregnant with someone's child and he'd bet it was Booth's. "Okay, well how long were you in a relationship?"

"About a month and a half when she left."

Definitely Dr. Brennan.

"And do you know why she left?"

"I kinda became distant. Aw, hell, I was barely talking to her! But it wasn't by choice! Never by choice!"

Booth's mood swings completely caught Sweets off guard, but he recovered. He understood Booth's need to clarify that he was forced to abstain from contact. "Then who's choice was it?"

"The damn FBI's. I wanted to tell her, but I was placed under direct orders not to!"

"And you chose to follow those orders," Sweets said.

Booth stood up and began to pace. "I wasn't going to, but they were watching my phone records to make sure I wouldn't talk to her about some stupid case! A case she would have been happy to help with, by the way! But someone high up thought she'd go and tell Max and he'd tell everybody else in his old gang! I could only talk to her when she called me, which was always with someone else on the task force was around. And I wasn't going to disobey a direct order with someone in the room who wouldn't get it. But if I had known she was going to leave, I would have. Damn it, I should have any way! I did this before, but now… Now, it's completely my fault…"

"So, you were prohibited from contact with Dr. Brennan and she ran because of that?"

Booth stopped and looked at Sweets. "She's not as logical as she used to be, Sweets. Especially now… And I think she got a little freaked out about my distance, but I swear I had no intention of leaving her or the baby, ever. I went to beg her for forgiveness, but she had already been gone for three days! Three days, and I hadn't noticed… How couldn't I have known something was wrong? I just thought she was beginning to worry. Why wouldn't she ask me over the phone what was wrong?"

Sweets knew why, but also knew that he couldn't tell Booth without Dr. Brennan killing him. But the agent had said something that caught his attention. "Baby?"

"Yeah. She's pregnant. She told me after Mike was born." Sweets shook his head. She had _lied_. Dr. Brennan never lied. But she had told everyone that Booth had no idea she was pregnant. And there was no other way to describe that except lying.

"And you're sure that you don't want anyone, not even people at the lab to know about this?" Sweets pushed. If Booth could give him permission to tell one person, everything would be okay.

"The task force is still technically confidential and as for the rest, they're probably already worried about her. Why would them knowing she was pregnant make anything better?"

"So you're telling me under no circumstances am I allowed to reveal this information to anyone?" Sweets checked, hoping Booth would say the magic _Unless you know where Bones is_ phrase or some form of it.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you." Booth knew that Sweets was a good guy, but he really didn't need his love life to be in print again. Plus, Booth was sure that if Brennan emailed or called anybody, she would have them tell Booth she was okay. Right?

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><p><strong>Okay, so I should have another chapter up this week, and if I can finish the one I'm on now maybe the one after that. You will get more though, and sooner than two weeks.<strong>


	22. Answer in the Agent

**Okay, I'm sorry it took me so long to get this to you guys. My beta is sick, but she still did an excellent job reviewing.**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1. :)**

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><p><em><strong>Seven years later<strong>_

"_I remember."_

Brennan froze in the doorway for a moment before turning around to face her former partner. The look she gave him told him he had better explain. And fast.

"I remember planning on telling you about Hannah when I told you about the task force. I had told Hannah that you were pregnant and I was staying with you from the beginning. I never even considered the possibility that you would find out I was meeting her without me telling you. I swear, though, I only agreed to help raise Brooke after you…" Booth didn't want to say left or ran, but that was exactly what she did. He shook his head and continued. "But Bones, I swear to God, I've spent time looking for you every day since I realized you were gone. There were days when it was the only thing that kept me going. But Hannah and I having lunch, that barely registered with me. I only remember it now because of Brooke."

"Why did agree to help raise her at all?" Brennan questioned. "You talk about looking for us, but what was your plan if you found us? Were you just going to stop helping Hannah take care of her? Were you going to leave Brooke fatherless?"

Booth stood there for a moment. He had never really thought about what he would do when he found Brennan. Sure, he imagined they would end back up together with their daughter, raise their daughter, and live happily ever after- well their version of it. But he had never considered how it would impact his relationship with Brooke. After all, she had grown up calling him Daddy, because that was what she knew.

It wasn't ever a conscious choice to not correct her as a baby, calling him Dada and then Daddy from listening to Parker. It just never seemed like a good time to start saying "I'm not your dad" and leave Brooke confused. Now, however, it made him look rotten because it would look like he was abandoning her. He couldn't do that to Brooke. She was his daughter in all of the ways it mattered.

"I don't want to. I mean, she's just a little girl. She's another daughter to me. I won't just leave her…I promise, I'm not going to let Katy continue to grow up without a father either."

"So you plan on helping to raise both of them?"

"Yeah. And I'll be there as much or as little as you want me, but I will play a part in our daughter's life."

_Our daughter_. It felt so good to say, especially after all of these years of not knowing the gender, if she had come to term, having a name. It made him immensely happy to be able to use the term and know that Katy was in fact part him and part Bones.

"I would like for you to be in her life. She's a lot like you."

"From what I've seen, she's a mini- you, Bones."

Brennan shook her head. "She's more social and understands people better than I do. She knows how to use her charm to get people to do what she wants. And she has a tendency to rely on her gut feeling. Those things are innate to her, and definitely not something I could teach her. She got them from you."

Booth couldn't help but smile. "She's got your big brain though, and she looks just like you!"

"She has your nose, ears, and hair."

Booth's grin widened. "Only you would notice that."

Brennan let a small smile appear on her face. But it quickly went away. "Booth, why didn't you just tell me you were under orders not to talk to me?"

"Because the only time you ever called, I was in the room with at least one other person. You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you."

"Then why not tell Sweets to tell me? He works in the same building as you."

"Because _that_ worked out so well last time. Wait, _Sweets_ knew how to contact you?" He had been talking to the shrink for years about this! Why the hell didn't he ever pass any of it along to Bones!

"Yes, I emailed him along with Cam, Angela, and Hodgins."

"I've been telling him for years how much I regret that month. He never told you? You'd think he would have saved both of us some pain and just said something."

Brennan looked a little hurt for a moment before it melted away into anger. "I find that I very much want to hurt Sweets right now."

"You and me, both, Bones." Booth's know of fury had been building inside of him since he found out the psychologist knew where Brennan was.

Brennan began to pack up her things. She was not going to let Sweets get away with experimenting on them again. She had told him last time that Booth would beat him up. But this was much worse than thinking Booth had been dead for two weeks. This had lasted seven years. She wouldn't let Sweets get off with just a thrashing from Booth. She was going to do it herself.

"Where are you going?"

"To beat up Sweets."

Booth couldn't help but laugh. Bones was always so blunt. And as much as the idea appealed to him at the moment, he knew they couldn't. "We've got something else we've gotta do first."

"What?" Brennan asked, afraid of what type of action he was going to take as he began to walk towards her. Surely, he wouldn't kiss her. Not now, not after all of this time. She wasn't sure how she would react if he did. Part of her wanted to feel his lips on hers, the more rational side of her was screaming that they had just had their first conversation in seven years and there was still a lot they needed to talk about before they even began to think about renewing their relationship.

But instead, Booth walked right past Brennan in the direction of Angela's office. "Explain this to Katy."


	23. Conclusions in the Office

**So, I'm guessing that it won't due much good to apologize for taking forever to update, huh? Well, if you are still reading thanks, and I'm sorry, but I can't promise that my updating ability is going to improve much. Sorry. But I will not let this story stay unfinished for forever. I hate when writers do that, so at some point this story will end I've got the rest of the story kinda mapped out in my head, so we'll see how that goes.**

**Also, I'm sorry that I haven't been responding to reviews. There's something weird going on with ff account. I've tried several times, and I usually get responses at the busiest times so I leave them alone and then my memory fails. Again, sorry.**

**And one last thing that doesn't apply to many of you so you can skip it if you want. If you don't like my story, that's fine. But leaving a review that has no constructive ****criticism, and carries a 'your story sucks' message is totally uncool and kinda douchey. No one is making you read this. If you don't like it, then don't read it. I've found stories I didn't like and instead of hurting a writers self-confidence, just leave the story alone and know you don't like the author. Now if you read that, and it wasn't directed at you, I'm sorry. I just had to get out of my system.**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1. As always, thanks to my awesome beta, meredithgrey23.**

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><p>Brennan quickly caught up with Booth's longer strides. She had forgotten how she had once quickened her pace just slightly to keep up with him. It was odd how small details like that are forgotten after seven years. She wasn't usually one to forget anything.<p>

She stopped Booth right outside of Angela's office with a touch on his shoulder. Again, it struck her as odd how promptly she fell into an intimate contact with Booth, so she quickly withdrew the hand. There was a lot that needed to be discussed before she would be as comfortable as she once was with him.

"We need to talk about how to explain this to her."

"Explain what? You basically already told her I was her dad. All you have to do is confirm it's me and not Hacker, and then we'll explain we had a misunderstanding. Problem solved."

"Booth, she knows you as Brooke's father. How are you going to explain that?"

"How much of my conversation with her did you hear?" Booth knew that Katy would be able to put things together. If Bones was right, she had his gut and her brains and they would be able to hide very little from her.

"Just Katy asking if you were the man in the failed relationship with Hannah and Brooke… You told her that Brooke wasn't your daughter?"

"Kinda… I guess I need to figure out to explain that one away first, huh?"

"Or just tell her it's not to be discussed."

Booth rolled his eyes. "Because _that_ worked so well when you told her not to mention sperm to anyone."

"When she was four. She didn't remember that part of the conversation."

"I'm still telling her that Brooke is her sister. And before you say it, I am _not _lying to her." Brennan gave him a skeptical look. "I'm not! There's more than one kind of family. And Brooke is my daughter, just not biologically. Katy is, too. If you share a parent, you're siblings. Sisters."

Booth was ready to get into a normal bickering round with Brennan when answered, "That makes sense. Are you ready to go in?"

"Did you just agree with me?" Booth asked, completely stunned and ignoring her question. "You used to never agree with me."

"You made a logical argument. Plus, if Angela is like my sister then it is only rational to draw the same conclusion about Brooke and Katy."

"You're acknowledging that you're agreeing with me too? Bones, did something happen to you in the past seven years I should know about? Like a brain tumor or something?"

"I raised our daughter. The one that we should be explaining the situation to."

"Right."

Brennan went and knocked on Angela's doorframe. When she looked in, she saw the artist on the floor with the two kids playing with blocks. Angela looked up and saw both Brennan and Booth standing there. She smiled; this brought back so many memories. "Hey, Katy."

"Hi, Mommy! Hi, Daddy!" All three adults in the room looked at her in shock. They had not expected for her to be so open about it. Especially since no one had flat out told her. Brennan looked to Booth to find out if he had already mentioned it to her, but the surprise on his face was enough of an answer.

"That's not your daddy," Mike told her. "That's Brooke's dad."

"He's my daddy too!"

"Since when?"

"Since today!"

Mike looked to Booth. "Is that true, Mr. Booth?"

Booth didn't have to think. "Yes."

"Told you!"

"Katy, be nice to Mike," Brennan scolded.

"But he didn't believe me when I was telling the truth!"

"He didn't have all the evidence; but now he believes you."

Katy turned to look at her much taller friend. "Really?"

"Yeah, unless you and Mr. Booth are both lying."

"They aren't lying, Mike," Angela told him. "But why don't we let the three of them have some privacy?"

"Is there some big secret I'm not supposed to know about?"

Booth couldn't help but let a small laugh out. Seven years old, and Hodgins had already turned the kid into a conspiracy theorist. Angela ignored him however. "No, I think all the secrets are out in the open. But they still need some time alone."

"Okay. Can we go play with Daddy?"

Angela nodded as she got off the floor and headed towards the door. Mike had practically run out of the room towards Hodgins' office. Brennan casually walked into the office as Angela passed, but the artist stopped Booth. "You hurt either one of them and you know that we will kill you and leave no evidence."

"I know, Angela. And I have no intention of either of those things happening."

She nodded and then followed her son. Booth just let out a sigh before entering the office to find Brennan and Katy sitting on one of the couches. Booth sat across from them. Or that was the plan until Katy stood up and came and sat on his lap. He, of course, obliged.

After a moment of silence Katy asked, "So you're Brooke, Parker, and my daddy, right?"

"Yes."

"And we all have different mommies?" Booth squirmed at the question. He had never thought about it, but he had three kids with the three women he had been in love with in his life (or so he had thought at one point). But he didn't like discussing this with one of his kids. Especially not Katy, who he had only realized was his daughter today.

"Yeah, I guess."

Katy turned to her mother. "And you're okay with that?"

"Yes. But Katy, Brooke doesn't know yet."

The girl quickly turned to Booth. "Why haven't you told her?"

Booth opened his mouth to answer, but Brennan beat him to it. "Because he didn't know if he'd ever see us again."

Though Brennan was speaking to Katy, she was looking at Booth with regret in her eyes.

"Because he was mean to you," Katy supplied from the story she had always been told growing up.

"No," Brennan quickly corrected. "There was just a large misunderstanding."

"I never wanted you and your mom to leave," Booth added. "I've always been looking for you guys."

"Do you love us?" Katy asked with an innocent curiosity.

"Yes!"

Brennan felt her chest constrict. Did he just admit to still loving her? Surely he was simply answering Katy's question regarding her and leaving Brennan out of his answer. Yes, he had alluded to the possibility during their earlier conversation, but he hadn't directly said it. But now, he had done more than just allude to it; he had admitted it. And she didn't know how to react.

Katy on the other hand knew exactly what was supposed to happen next. "So, does that mean you and Mommy are going to get married like Uncle Russ and Aunt Amy now?"

"Uh…" Booth answered. If he could ever convince Brennan to forgive him, and he could show her how much he still loved her, then he would marry her in a heartbeat. But if there was one thing Booth had never been able to change Brennan's mind about, it was marriage. And seven years of her believing Booth was ready to abandon her wasn't going to help him convince her anytime soon.

Brennan's answer was much more precise. "No."

"But I thought if you love somebody then you got married. Isn't that how you explained it to me?" the girl asked her mother. Booth raised an eyebrow at Brennan. Had she actually said that? What happened to marriage being an archaic ritual that showed men's domination over women or whatever?

"Yes. But Booth and I still have a lot of things to work out."

"But after that?"

"Katy, your mom's never been a big supporter of marriage. So, it probably won't happen," Booth tried to help.

"But you'll still be my daddy?"

Both adult faces softened. "I'll always be your dad. Even when you're sixteen and think I'm ruining your life."

"Okay… So, does this mean Brooke and me are sisters?"

"Yes," he answered. "But she doesn't know yet, so let me tell her this weekend and then you can talk to her about at school on Monday."

"And I've got Parker as a brother, too?"

"Yes."

"And Uncle Jared and Aunt Padme and Pops?" Booth and Brennan both looked at Katy slightly confused.

"How do you know about all of them?"

"Brooke told me about them and I told her about Grandpa and Uncle Russ and Aunt Amy and Emma and Hayley. And of course you Mommy."

"You two have covered a lot of topics in one week," Booth commented, thinking back to the sperm incident. Though, maybe that wasn't a big jump.

Katy shrugged. "I guess. We just talk."

Both adults smiled. Katy was naïve believing this was not at all complicated and that it was normal for her to already know Booth's family members names. For Katy, all that had meant was that her family had grown to include her best friend and her awesome father and brother, and she had no problem with that at all.

But after a moment, Katy's joyful face dropped a little. She turned to look at Booth. "I thought you said you weren't a meanie."

"Katy," Brennan half yelled in surprise.

"But, Mommy, you said Daddy was mean to you. Isn't that why I haven't met him as my daddy before?"

"It's more complicated than that. Like I said, it was a misunderstanding."

"Why do grown-ups have to make everything so complicated?" Katy sighed.

"Trust me, we don't try. But you remember those orders I told you about earlier?" Booth asked.

Katy nodded.

"Well, that was me, right?"

Another nod.

"And your mom was my girlfriend. That's why your mom thought I was being mean."

The young girl bobbed her head in understanding, before it froze and her eyes grew big. "Does that mean you've been hurting yourself?"

Brennan's blue eyes flashed towards Booth in a worry. She knew what she had felt when her family had been taken away from her when she was fifteen. She knew the loneliness and the feelings of pain that came with it. She had never considered that she was wrong until this past week, and even then she had not allowed herself to believe that she had evoked these emotions in Booth. Had he really felt all that responsible for them leaving? He shouldn't. Yes, he should have told her what was going on, but it was just as much her fault as his. Had he felt like he couldn't protect them? Brennan remembered Booth once mentioning contemplating suicide as a child. He had never gone into more detail with her about the subject, only that Hank had stopped it from happening. He hadn't ever reconsidered it, had he? Brennan began to feel even guiltier.

"What? No, no, of course, not!" Booth answered quickly. Okay, Hannah had gotten on him a few times about it being unhealthy, but he had never done anything to actually cause himself pain. Physical pain, that is.

"But you said earlier that you'd been beating yourself up over letting Mommy and me leave?"

Booth showed a small smile to Brennan. "Yeah, she isn't your kid at all."

He expected some comment about how her ability to distinguish between metaphorical and literal had improved or something, but when he looked up he noticed Brennan's already fair skin was a little paler than usual.

"Bones, you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Of course, Booth didn't believe it. Something was clearly bothering her, and she probably didn't want Katy to know. Booth didn't want to send Katy out of the room again, but he also refused to let another misunderstanding tear him and Brennan apart again. "Katy, why don't you go and tell Hodgins that I'm your dad. I bet he'll be really excited for you."

"Promise you won't hurt yourself?"

"Promise."

"Okay!" she answered as she hopped out of his lap. She gave him a hug before skipped out of the room, just thrilled to have two parents.

As soon as Katy was out of the room, Booth was by Brennan's side. "You want to tell me what's really wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"It's nothing. I simply jumped to another conclusion that turned out to be completely inaccurate."

"Must have been some conclusion."

"It's really nothing important. I think you should be spending this time with Katy. I've not allowed you to see her for over six years."

"She's not the only one I've missed," he confessed.

"Booth…" She wasn't ready for this. "You don't know me anymore. You don't know anything about me. You- You can't claim to love me. You should be yelling at me for keeping Katy from her, not telling me you love me… Why don't you hate me?"

Her walls finally crumbled and tears began to flow. She wasn't sure why she had finally cracked, but she knew there was nothing to do about it now. She wiped away as many tears as she could as they fell, but it wasn't enough. Brennan was surprised when she felt the couch shift, though she really shouldn't have been. She was equally shocked when she felt a comforting warmth surround her. She wanted to push away, but couldn't force herself to move from his arms. In fact, she ended up burying her face into Booth's chest.

"Sh," he soothed. "I don't hate you, Bones. I could never hate you."

That provided too much for her. She pushed herself out of his arms. "No! Booth, it took us seven years to be in a functional relationship which lasted two months! I've been gone for seven years, kept your daughter from you, and asked my friends, _your_ friends, to lie to you! I hate me for this! How don't you?"

Booth's heart tore a little at the sad confusion in her voice. He quickly took her back into his arms.

"Because I've spent the past seven years being worried about you. And, yeah, I am upset that I haven't had a chance to know Katy. But that's just as much my fault as yours. And it sounds like you're hating yourself enough right now for the both of us."

Brennan was about to respond when her phone began to sound. She looked at Booth. "Sorry, I guess I didn't turn it off from earlier."

"Go ahead and answer it. It might be important."

Brennan nodded and opened her phone. "Baines… Why?... I thought that was next week… Yes, but-… I'm fine…That's really not necessary, I can handle it… No, Katy's fine… It's just a situation I put myself in…I did this time… I'm busy right now, can we reschedule?... Yes. You can wait at my apartment until Katy and I get there, but I'm not sure how long that will be…"

As Booth listened to the conversation, he had a terrifying thought. What if Brennan had moved on in the past seven years? Could this caller be her new boyfriend? How much was he involved in Katy's life? Katy said she didn't have a dad, but surely she had a man who doted on her in some way or another. Bones had to have had guys try to gain her affection, even if she did have a child now.

Booth interrupted her phone conversation. "Bones, if you have something else to do tonight or someone else to see, you can go."

Brennan looked at him in amazement. Into the phone she said, "One moment," before speaking to him. "It's not that important."

"It sounds like somebody thinks it," Booth replied motioning towards the phone.

"He just wants to know how Katy and my first week was."

The word _he_ was about the only one that Booth caught. He knew as much as it hurt, if Brennan had really moved on with her life, he had to let her. It didn't mean he wouldn't run every type of background check there was on the guy, but he would let Brennan have her time with this man. Oh God, what if it was Hacker? _She has a right to date whoever,_ Booth reminded himself. "Then go tell him about it. Just promise that you'll call me sometime. Maybe I can even see Katy for a few hours this weekend. Hannah's going to pick up Brooke, but Parker would love to get to know Katy."

"Are you sure?"

_About Parker, yeah. Letting you spend time with some other guy, not so much._ "Yeah, I'm positive."

"I can call you tonight and set up a time. Has your phone number changed?"

Booth looked at her as if she had asked if he was a vampire. Why would he have changed his number? If she had ever wanted to call him, he needed to make sure she would have his number. "No."

"That makes things simpler." She brought the phone back up to her ear. "We'll come. Let me go get Katy and then we'll be out… I will… Love you, too."

Booth felt his heart shatter. He wanted to interrogate Brennan on the spot about this guy, but knew he had no right to. So, instead, he stood up. "I guess I better go. I have to explain the situation to Brooke."

"You aren't going to explain the situation to Hannah?" she asked as she began to wipe her eyes.

"Yeah, when she comes to pick Brooke up. But I'm not sure how long that will be. Her plane might be late."

"Where is she?"

"Greece."

"She is still travelling the world for the story?"

"Yeah. She still isn't ready to settle down."

"Well, send her my regards," Brennan instructed, finally having her composure back. She began to walk out of the room, when she turned back to Booth.

"Do you think we'll be able to savage our friendship from this, Booth?"

"I think so."

She nodded and left to get Katy, leaving Booth standing there watching Brennan walk out of the room to go spend time with another man.


	24. Man From the Phone in the Garage

**Hi, everyone! I just wanted to say thank you for your awesome reviews! And of course thank you to meredithgrey23, my amazing beta. :)**

**One random thing before I get to the story, because it caused my a major freak out. On the show How I Met Your Mother, they blew up the Royal Diner! I was having a spaz attack and my roommate was just like, "so?" So, yeah, I just thought it was sad/ kinda funny.**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1. :)**

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><p>It only took Brennan a minute to find Katy in Hodgins office. She had made it about three steps into the office before Angela stopped her.<p>

"Sweetie, is everything alright? Katy said Booth told her to come tell Jack about who her father was."

"Everything is going to be fine. However, Katy and I need to go."

"Oh, God. What did Booth do now?"

"Nothing. Why does it have to have anything to do with Booth?"

"Sweetie," Angela said with a mixture of concern and disbelief.

"It doesn't. I made prior arrangements for dinner I forgot about."

"You're leaving Booth alone in the lab after seven years of not seeing him, because you already made plans with somebody else?"

"You make it sound like a bad thing."

"That's because it is."

"I tried to cancel, but Booth told me to go ahead."

"And you didn't think to mention to whoever it is, 'I'm sorry, I can't because I'm talking to the father of my child for the first time in seven years'?"

"That would have not turned out well, Ange," Brennan half laughed.

"Trust me that excuse will work on about anyone right now."

"But it will also cause my father to barge in here ready to kill him."

Angela looked at Brennan a little in shock. "You haven't told your dad what's going on yet? Bren, that's like not telling my dad about something. It's just not a good idea."

"As far as Max knows, Katy is the product of a one-night stand."

Angela sighed. "You do realize that no one actually believed that story, don't you?"

"Do you think Booth would be alive if Max knew he was the father?" Brennan asked skeptically. And Angela had to admit, she had a point. Max would shield his daughter from everything he could to make up for his past sins; and if she said she was getting out of DC because she was pregnant off a one-night stand and didn't want Booth know, Max would make that happen. And apparently, it did.

"He's going to find out eventually."

"Yes, but I need to explain the situation to him in person. Without Katy around."

"Do you want me and Jack to keep her for a few hours?"

"No, Dad will want to see her to ask about school."

"You realize that there's no way Booth isn't going to be brought up to your dad, right? Katy's telling everyone she met her dad."

"If I say the correct things, then she won't have a chance to tell him."

"Just keep telling yourself that," Angela sighed.

Brennan finally got Katy and they walked out to the parking garage where Max was patiently waiting for them.

"Grandpa!" Katy yelled when she saw him, as she ran to gave him a hug.

"Katy!" he answered back with a little bit of forced enthusiasm. "How's your first week of school been?"

"Good, but most of the kids are jerks!"

"Katy, use a different word."

"But Brooke uses the word 'jerk'!" Katy argued with her mom.

"I'm not Brooke's mother."

"Who's Brooke?" Max asked looking from his daughter to his granddaughter.

"My new best friend and sister!" Katy answered before Brennan could.

Max smiled, thinking it was cute that she had already found someone she felt could be her sister. "Your sister, huh? Your mom get pregnant again and not tell me?" he joked.

Katy, however, answered him. "Nope. Daddy's sperm touched Brooke's mommy's egg, too."

"Katy!" Brennan practically shouted. This was not how she had intended on telling her father about Booth being involved.

Max's face quickly became one of confusion and rage. He would have thought Katy was joking, except by Tempe's reaction there was at least some truth to that scenario. "You tracked down her father and didn't tell me?"

"He found me," Brennan admitted. It however was the wrong thing to say.

"The son of a bitch took advantage of you while you were drunk and then didn't want to-"

"Dad!" Brennan cut him off. She was well aware of the story she had fabricated for her father when she left Washington. A one night stand who didn't want the responsibilities of being a father yet. Of course, it was complete fiction, but it had kept Max from looking for the man, especially when Brennan refused to give his name. But Katy definitely didn't need to hear the story, and Brennan was pretty sure that her father would figure out Katy's true father in the next few minutes. Hopefully, Booth had already vacated the premises, for his own safety.

"Grandpa said a bad word!" Katy tattled. The adults both ignored her comment.

"You didn't let him see Katy, did you?" Max asked, still fuming.

"Of course, I did."

"Tempe, he abandoned you when you needed him!"

"No, Dad! I misunderstood the situation, and let my fears control my actions! He did nothing wrong!"

"Are you mad at Daddy for following orders, Grandpa? Because he feels really bad about that. He's been beating himself up over it. But not really, because he hasn't actually hurt himself."

That caught Max's attention. "Orders? What type of orders?"

"Probably one from the meanie."

"Meanie?" Brennan questioned now. She had heard Booth and Katy use the term in her office, but assumed it was a generic term, not implied to one specific person.

Katy nodded. "Daddy's boss."

Brennan made a mental note to talk to Booth about give Katy impressions of people before she really had a chance to talk with them. "Andrew. Don't call him a meanie."

"You know his boss?" Max asked, wondering what Tempe had been keeping from him.

"I dated him about a year before."

"Andrew probably is a better guy than-"

"Andrew's a jerk," Katy corrected Max. "Daddy is the best daddy in the whole world."

"Katy, what did I just tell you about using that word?"

"Tempe, let it go. I want to know where I can find this guy. What's his name?"

"Dad, please-" Brennan knew it was too late when she saw Katy open her mouth.

"Booth."

Max's head immediately turned towards the girl and the garage went eerily silent. Brennan was sure that if God truly existed, he would have her father think this was a game. Or the all-powerful entity would strike her down. Neither happened, of course. Max was the first one to speak. "Katy, did you just say Booth was your father?"

"Yeah… That's what everybody else calls him," she answered in a small voice usually reserved for a child who did something wrong.

Max turned to Brennan. "Seeley Booth is her father?"

She nodded. "Yes."

For a moment, Max's looked like he could easily accept that fact and everything was going to be okay. At least until he said, "I'm going to have to have a little talk with him."

Brennan knew that the type of conversation Max wanted to have with Booth would end up with one or both of them getting hurt. "No, you aren't, Dad. If I wanted to have that type of discussion with him, I would have had it with him already."

"Tempe, I'm only going to have a chat with him about his responsibilities as a father."

"You realize that he's been raising two children. He is aware of what it takes." Brennan understood what her father truly meant, but also knew Katy was listening. And she would be devastated if she found out her grandfather wanted to cause bodily harm to Booth.

"But now he has three of them."

"Just promise me you won't talk when Katy, Parker, or Brooke are with him." She supposed that should keep him fairly safe. After all, one of three children would most likely be with him at all times unless he was at work. And surely Max had enough sense, even in rage, not to walk into the FBI and go attack an assistant director.

Max nodded, happy that Tempe wasn't going to try to talk him out of it. It would have been a waste of her breath, because Katy's father had been the only man Max had felt an inclination to kill in the past seven years. And the fact he now knew him to be the man he had trusted Tempe to made him that much angrier.

"Why can't I be there when Grandpa and Daddy talk?" Katy asked.

"Because the conversation I'm going to have with him is a little bit too grown up for you," Max answered.

"How come?"

"Because… it just will be."

"Maybe you should let me handle it," Brennan suggested once again.

"But I thought you and Daddy already talked and worked everything out."

"Not everything."

"But you still love him, right?" Katy asked, expecting to get an automatic yes.

Brennan hesitated. Did she still love Booth? She hadn't really thought about it, more trying to prepare herself for his anger towards her, which that never came. Logically, she shouldn't but there was still some part of her that desired his touch and to be able to restore the relationship they had once had. But was that love, or simply lust?

"Tempe? Do you still love him?" Unlike his granddaughter, Max had expected some form of no. But Tempe wasn't answering, meaning she was trying to figure out the answer herself.

"I- I don't know."


	25. Acceptance from the Blondes

**So, like I always I apologize for the delay. Last week was finals week and I was busy with that. Also, thanks to my amazing beta, meredithgrey23, and her amazing abilities as an editor. And disclaimers in chapter 1.**

**Without any further delay, here's the next chapter.**

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><p>As soon as Brennan left Booth in Angela's office, he began to feel a little awkward. He had not been welcomed in there since she left (hell, he'd barely been welcomed in the lab period), and now he wasn't so sure if he was supposed to be in there or not. So, he simply left.<p>

On his drive home, he thought about who the guy on the phone with Brennan was. His first concern had been that it was Hacker, but Brennan had told him to wait at her apartment and that she loved him. And she said it with such ease that Booth knew that she had said it before. If it had been Hacker, then Booth would have heard about it by now. So, that left someone she spent time with while she was away. Someone who had probably acted more like a father to Katy than anything else. Someone who had been there for Bones when she was hurting. But she clearly hadn't been living in DC since she left; he would have found her before now. So that would mean this mystery man was just visiting… or he moved to be with her. Booth prayed it was the first, but he would respect whoever this guy was. After all, he had been there when Booth hadn't.

When Booth finally made it home, his head was still back at the lab. Or it was until he walked into his den to find two of his three children watching some Cartoon Network show he didn't recognize. Parker looked up and saw his father come in, but Brooke's eyes were glued to the TV. The teenager stood up and approached his dad. "So, you were gone a long time."

"Yeah, I had to wait for Bones and Katy to get back from getting ice cream," Booth answered in a low voice. He knew he needed to explain the situation to Brooke, but thought it might be useful to talk to Hannah first, especially since she was due to come pick up Brooke sometime in the next couple of hours.

"So, you actually talked to Bones? It wasn't just arguing?" Parker questioned.

"Yeah. Turns out she feels bad about leaving. Actually, she thought I was going to leave her." Booth looked up to see Parker nod in understanding. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"She mentioned it to me earlier. But only 'cuz I dragged it out of her," Parker added quickly.

Apparently a commercial came on because in that moment, Brooke sprung out of her chair and ran to Booth. "Daddy, where'd you go? You were gone for forever!" she said while hugging his leg. "Parker wouldn't tell me why you left."

"I had to talk to an old friend; but I'm here now. So, why don't I cook us up something to eat?"

"But Mommy told me on the phone yesterday she would take me to get something to eat tonight!" Brooke responded. Booth sighed. That meant he and Parker had to wait to eat until after Hannah and Brooke left. And that would take longer than anyone planned, because he had to tell Hannah that he found Bones and Katy.

"Okay, well, then we'll just have to wait for your mom."

The three of them quickly settle around the television, though Brooke was probably the only one paying any attention. Parker was on his smart phone, texting or whatever it was he did on it, and Booth was trying to plan out how to tell Hannah that he found Katy and Bones.  
>It only took forty-five minutes before there was a knock on Booth's door. Booth jumped up to get it, knowing otherwise Brooke would rush to the door. When he pulled it opened, he wasn't surprised to see Hannah standing there with a smile.<p>

"Hey, Seeley, how's your week been?"

"Interesting. I've got a lot to tell you about-" he started before a squeal came from the other room.

"Mommy!" Brooke came bolting to the door and Hannah quickly picked her up.

"Hey, babe, how was your first week of school? Learned anything interesting?"

"Yep! Katy taught me something!"

Booth's eyes bugged out, knowing exactly where this was going. "Brooke, no!"

Hannah looked at him suspiciously. "Honestly, Seeley, they're six. What did Katy tell you?"

"She told that you don't need a Mommy and a Daddy to have a baby, just a sperm and an egg. Daddy won't tell me where to get sperm, though, so I can't make a little sister or brother!"

Hannah looked unpleasantly shocked at what her daughter had said. Not the wanting a little brother or sister part, she already knew Brooke wanted another sibling. But the fact she knew a very vague definition of what a sperm was, slightly upset Hannah. She put Brooke down and said, "Why don't you go get your stuff and play with Parker for a few minutes. I need to talk to your dad."

"Okay," she answered before wondering back to her room.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Hannah turned on Booth. "I don't want her spending time with a little girl who goes on talking sperm and egg when they're six!"

"Funny, that's almost exactly what I said. But she and Katy are going to be spending time together."

"I know I can't control them at school, but I'm serious, I don't want Brooke exposed to things like that for another few years."

"Katy's mom has already dealt with it, Hannah, and Katy knows not to talk about it anymore. But Brooke and Katy are going to be spending a lot of time outside of school. They're both determined and have their dad wrapped around their fingers," he said with a small grin. It was funny Booth had known Katy as his daughter for less than twelve hours and was already willing to do about anything for her.

"Well, then maybe the mothers should be in charge. Why did Katy's parents even tell her about sperm?"

Booth couldn't help but smile. "Because her mom is very direct."

"And her father?"

The smile disappeared. "I wasn't there to have a say."

"Well, I want to talk about it with Katy's mother first- Wait, _you_ weren't there?"

"Yeah, Katy is my daughter."

Hannah's face softened a little as the situation sunk in. "You found Temperance?"

"More like Brooke found Katy, but, yeah, Bones and I have talked."

"Where was she?"

"Uh… I dunno. I didn't really ask." There were a lot of things he didn't know, he suddenly realized. Important things too, like Katy's exact birthday, if Brennan had any health changes, etc. "But she took her job back at the lab, and enrolled Katy in school, so they'll be here for a while."

"You didn't ask? What did you talk about?"

"Why she left."

"Because you were ignoring her," Hannah replied. She had been around him enough when he was drunk to hear his self-hating rants.

"That was only part of it. She probably wouldn't have been as freaked out if she didn't think I was trying to break up with her."

"Why would she think that?"

"Because she overheard you ask me for help. And then there was the awful timing of that stupid, secret thing involving Max, so I couldn't explain it to her and she never asked."

"But you basically told me that she and your child were your first priority."

"Yeah, I don't think she heard that part of it."

"I guess this means that you're going to be raising three kids, right?"

Booth understood what she was asking. Since the beginning, Hannah had been worried that she and Brooke were a replacement for Brennan and Katy. Now that Bones and their daughter were back in his life, Hannah was concerned he would abandon Brooke. But Booth had already told Brennan that wouldn't happen and he meant it. Just because Brooke wasn't biologically his didn't mean she wasn't his daughter.

"Yeah, of course. I'm not going to abandon Brooke just because Katy and Bones are back. I hope you know me better than that, Hannah."

Hannah let out a sigh. "I do. Really. But Seeley, you turned me down when I originally asked you for help because you didn't want the responsibility of raising three kids. Now you have all three, I can't help but try to protect Brooke."

"I'm her father! You don't have to protect her from me!" Booth hissed, trying very hard to keep his voice so the girl wouldn't hear them.

"But let's face it; if things had gone according to your plan, then Brooke would be nothing to you. You offered to babysit and help find her father."

"I am her father!"

Hannah gave him a look. "You know what I mean. Her biological father. But since you became her father, have you really tried to look for her dad?"

"If I had anything besides one of the most common names in America, I would," Booth replied bitterly. The name Tim was about as vague as getting a name like John.

"Forget it. I don't want to fight about this… Have you told Brooke about Temperance and Katy?"

"No, I was going to after I talked to you."

"Does Katy know?"

"Yeah, it kinda came out. I was hoping to talk to Brooke before you left with her for the weekend."

Hannah nodded. "Okay. Brooke, can you come here for a minute?"

Hannah's request brought the young girl into the room, looking fairly guilty. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, baby, it's nothing like that. It's just that your dad has something he needs to talk to you about."

Brooke looked at her dad expectantly. Booth knew that he couldn't do this standing up. "Uh, let's move into the den."

The three of them entered the room. Hannah took a seat on the love seat, and Brooke and Booth took the couch. "Daddy, is something wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong. Actually, something is fixed."

"What was broken?" Brooke asked looking around the room.

"Before I tell you, you know that nothing is going to change the fact that I love you, right?"

Brooke's brow furrowed. "Okay…"

Booth took a deep breath. He didn't know where to start with this. Should he work his way up slowly or tell her quickly? He decided on the latter. "You have a sister."

Brooke's brown eyes went wide and a smile grew on her lips. "Really? Why haven't I met her? Is she in Mommy's tummy still?"

"No," Hannah quickly confirmed.

"And me and your sister's mom had a misunderstanding, so I haven't really talked to her until today. That's why I was gone for so long this afternoon."

"Is Dr. Bones her mom?" Booth's head shot up. He knew he had never mentioned Bones to her. So that meant someone else had been telling her about Brennan. Booth looked to Hannah to see if it had been her.

"Don't look at me like that, Seeley. I don't talk about your love life."

Brooke understood her parents' semi-silent conversation. "Parker told me about Dr. Bones."

A week ago, Booth would have made a mental note to talk to Parker. But now, it didn't seem like as big of a deal. "Yeah, Bones is your sister's mom."

"What's her name?"

"Your sister? Katy."

"She has the same name as my best friend! That's weird!"

Booth bit back a smile. "It's more like she _is_ your best friend."

The entire room went silent. Booth and Hannah both watched as their daughter's face scrunched together in confusion. Finally, the girl spoke. "Katy is my sister? Does that mean we can have sleepovers every night? Because that would be lots and lots of fun!"

Booth couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, it would be fun. But she's mostly going to live with Bones, like Parker does with Rebecca."

"But that's not as much fun," Brooke complained, giving her best puppy dog look.

"Look on the bright side," Hannah tried. "You have that little sister you always wanted."

"Katy's not little though! She's my age!"

"She's a few months younger than you, making you her big sister."

"But I can't boss her around like a big sister."

"She's got you there, Hannah." Hannah simply rolled her eyes. Meanwhile, Booth turned to his older daughter. "You sure this is okay?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Brooke asked. Much like Katy, she didn't see any of the complications and only the positives of having a new family member.

"No reason," Booth smiled. "No reason at all."


	26. Max in the Doorway

**I'm so sorry stuff it took me so long to update! I've been really busy over this break. Plus, I've been having some writers block. But I'll try to be better!**

**As always, thank you to my amazing beta meredithgrey23. :)**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1**

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><p>Max Keenan was glaring out the window of his car. The person in front of him probably thought he was going to kill someone by the look on his face. And honestly, the thought had crossed his mind several times in the past few minutes; probably several hundred times in the past two hours. Why did there have to be so much traffic on Friday nights? He had just dropped off Tempe and Katy from a nice dinner. Well, nice might be not be the most accurate word. He and his daughter had been having a silent argument over what was going to happen after he took two of his favorite girls to their new home for the night; all the meanwhile, his granddaughter was talking about how awesome it was to finally have a daddy. Max had kept very quiet for the sake of Katy.<p>

He had to admit, when Tempe first told him about her pregnancy, he had initially guessed Booth was the father. But then after she said that the father didn't want to be involved, he had assumed he was wrong because he knew how protective Booth was of Parker and Max refused to believe that the agent would be willing to hurt his and Tempe's child. But he had, and Tempe, too. He might not have been as furious if it had been another guy, but this was the man Max had trusted to take care of Tempe and he had knocked her up and then done something stupid that hurt Max's daughter. And the last two people to even threaten to harm Max's family had their guts spilled and bodies lit on fire.

Max had asked Tempe where Booth lived now and, either out of loyalty to her ex-partner or honesty, she had denied knowing. However, Max had been in and out of DC for the past eleven years and had made some friends who pulled some strings to quickly get him the address. Max was surprised to see that he recognized it, just not as Booth's apartment.

Eventually, traffic allowed Max to pull up to the familiar apartment complex and with a slight smile Max took his usual parking spot. And as he exited the car, he saw a blonde woman and girl leave the building. He instantly recognized the mother from several pictures Tempe had shown him years ago. This was the woman Booth had brought home from Afghanistan. The reason he had broken Tempe's heart the first time. And she had a daughter roughly the same age as Katy. Brooke, right? That meant that Booth probably didn't have any kids with him, because if Max's memory was correct Parker spent every other weekend with him. Plus, Parker would be old enough to drive by now, so chances were he'd be out roaming the streets of Washington. Tempe only told him not to hit Booth if he had a kid with him.

Max pulled out his key to the front door of the building; the one Tempe had given him for when he came to visit. Technically, he was still visiting that apartment. Once at the correct door, Max tried to insert the key again, only this time it failed, barely going into the lock. He should have known that the FBI agent would have changed the locks sometime in the past seven years, but it was at least worth a shot. So Max did what any normal man would do. He knocked. He instantly heard movement come from within the apartment, and prepared himself to attack. After all, it had just a little over seven years since he actually hit anybody, but there was never anyone more deserving in Max's mind, than the man on the other side of that door. His world began to take on a red tint as he stood there waiting to see Booth.

Max didn't even think when the door opened; all he did was give his most powerful right hook to the jaw and was immediately rewarded with a scream of pain.

"You rat bastard!" Max spat, his vision almost completely overcome by red.

"What the hell, psycho?" his victim yelled back.

At the same time, another voice came from the other room. "Parker, you okay?"

Max's vision cleared a little at the third voice. The first thing he noticed was that it was not a brunette man rubbing his face, but a blonde teenager. Damn, maybe he should have looked before he punched.

"What the hell is your problem?" Parker asked, completely ignoring his dad's question. He looked at Max as if he was a stranger, and Max assumed that he didn't remember him. That or he had aged more than he'd like to admit in the past seven years.

"I thought you were someone else," Max grunted.

"What? You thought I was someone who stole your cane or something?"

"Parker!" Booth said from behind his son. He couldn't see who Parker was talking to, but he knew better than to talk to anyone like that.

Parker turned around, apparently knowing what his dad was reprimanding him for. "Hey, I don't have to be polite to someone who punched me when I didn't do a damn thing to him!"

Booth's anger suddenly turned to the man his son was unintentionally blocking. He had hurt Parker and if the man didn't have a damn good reason, Booth might have him arrested for assaulting a minor.

"I told you, I thought you were someone else," Max responded and Booth recognized it immediately.

"Then next time, get the right address!" Parker told him. "I can pretty much guarantee that whoever pissed you off didn't live here!"

Booth sighed, "He's got the right address. Give us a minute, Bub."

"Dad? You know this nut?"

"Hey, I'm not that crazy," Max argued.

"No, just a conman and killer."

Parker immediately took a step away from Max. "Come on, Booth, now you're just scaring him. Plus, those bastards deserved it and you know it."

"Dad?"

"Parker, go to your room."

"I'm not leaving you alone with a murderer!"

"He won't kill me," Booth answered calmly, though his eyes never left Max.

"You want me to call Sweets to send back up over here?"

"No. But if you could look up Bones and Katy's number in that school phonebook, that'd be great."

"What?" Parker asked completely lost, while Max simply stated, "That's not necessary."

"You just punched my son, because you thought he was me… But Bones doesn't want you here, does she?"

"Not really."

"Dad, who is this and how does he know Bones?"

"You remember Max, right?" Parker's eyes widened at recognition.

"I think I understand why you hit me so hard," Parker told Max as he rubbed his face again.

"Sorry about that, kid. I thought your dad was the only one home."

"I kinda wish he was now," Parker mumbled.

"Hey, buddy, why don't you go pick up the pizza so Max and I can talk."

Parker's eyes jumped from Booth to Max several times. "Are you still going to be breathing when I come back?"

"Yeah."

Parker nodded and hesitantly grabbed his keys and wallet from the table and left. As he left, Max stepped into the apartment. The two men stood there watching every twitch the other made. Finally, Max made the first comment.

"You know why I'm here." His voice was too calm for the situation. He was controlling himself as much as possible.

"Yeah, I kinda picked up on it when you hit my son."

"I wouldn't have come if I'd known he was here. Actually, Tempe told me I wasn't allowed to come and talk to you if you had any of your _three_ kids with you."

"What did she tell you?" Booth asked suspiciously.

"That the man who knocked her up didn't want to be a father and abandoned her. Or do you mean that you have another little girl with that reporter? Katy mentioned you had another daughter, and that she went to school with her. And the fact they are in the same grade makes me wonder how quickly after Tempe left you moved on, or if she was even gone before you starting-"

"Max, if you ever doubt that I love your daughter, then talk to Hannah or Rebecca. I was a mess after Bones left. You have to understand that I never, _never_, wanted her or Katy to get hurt. I never wanted them to leave either."

"Then please explain how you have another daughter around the same age as Katy."

"Not that it's any of your business, but-"

"You are the father of my granddaughter! And your actions affect her and Tempe, which means it affects me. So, it is my business!"

"Fine, it's your business. But biologically, I have one daughter and one son. And I have, more or less, adopted another daughter."

Max froze at his words. "Brooke isn't yours?"

"Oh she's my daughter, just not biologically."

"So, when did you agree to be her father?"

"About two months after Bones disappeared. And it wasn't exactly planned. Hannah started asking me to help her out, I think to get me out of my head. You have to understand, I was in a bad place. Anyway, from there I somehow became her dad."

"Well, why did her mom ask you?"

"She didn't know about me and Bones when she originally asked. I told her no then. But after Bones disappeared, I told her I would help. But I swear to God, Max, I loved your daughter when she left. I've loved her since she disappeared. And I am still in love. I know I've screwed up, but I have every intention of fixing my mistake. And if part of that involves you beating me up, then take your best shot. But honestly I'm not sure if you have any right, because part of this is your fault."

"My fault?" Max laughed in shock.

"Yeah, your fault. You left Bones when she was a kid. So she doesn't trust anyone completely to stay with her. I was placed under orders- granted, ones I shouldn't have followed- not to talk to her, because I had to investigate _your _old crime group. She never came to ask me why I was ignoring her, because she assumed I was going to leave her. And the entire time Bones was gone, I looked for her so I could apologize and let her know I still cared about her. I never would let her wonder for fifteen years if I was dead or alive. So, as much I've messed up in the past seven years, you've hurt her too."

Max stood there stunned for a second. Booth was yelling at _him_ for something he did twenty-four years ago? "Tempe and I have come to terms with what happened back then. And it's none of your business."

"You are the grandfather of my daughter," Booth answered, purposefully quoting Max from earlier. "And Brennan still holds that burden with her, and it affects every personal decision she makes. Including the one to leave DC with our daughter. That affected me, my son, and my friends."

"You know why Ruth and I left; it was to protect her and Russ. What you did was put your career first, and she got hurt because of that."

Booth opened his mouth to argue, but was interrupted by his phone vibrating. He exchanged glares with Max before flipping open his phone.

"Booth," he answered sharply.

"_Booth, it's me."_ Brennan's voice vibrated in his ear a moment before he reminded himself that this was now reality.

"Hey, Bones."

Max tensed a little, not knowing whether to believe the younger man. "You're bluffing."

Booth shook his head and gave a slightly sadistic smile, as she continued. _"I know it's short notice, but I was thinking about taking Katy to the park tomorrow and was wondering if you and Parker would like to join us."_

"Yeah, we'll definitely be there. Which park and what time?"

"_I was thinking Hillside Park, but if that's too far away from where you live now then-"_

"Hillside works. I haven't there since Parker was like twelve. Do you want to meet around one?"

"_That sounds like an appropriate time. By the merry-go-round?"_ Booth let out a sigh of relief. They were actually going to meet and spend time together. She wasn't going to run away again. At least, not yet.

"Perfect."

"_Then we'll see you tomorrow."_

"See you then, Bones."

"_Oh, and Booth, if at all possible, have Parker or Brooke answer the door or be with you when you do. I'll explain tomorrow."_

Booth's eyes flashed to Max, understanding Brennan's vague warning. "I'll be sure to do that."

And then the phone went dead.

Max waited a moment before saying, "You didn't tell her I was here."

Booth shrugged. "You didn't want her to know. Though she did warn me to have one of my kids with me when I open the door."

"Why didn't you tell her?"

"Because it only would have made her mad at you. And I've already been through that when you first came back. Plus, if I was in your place, I wouldn't have tried to punch me; I'd have had my gun pointed at my head."

Max gave a small laugh. "But you won't let me use a gun to take care of my baby girl without hauling my ass to jail."

"Hey, you killed the deputy director of the FBI. It was my job."

"I was talking about with that woman who buried her alive," Max answered coolly.

"And have you go to jail for years? Do you realize how much that would have devastated Bones?"

"Not as much as thinking you were going to leave her." Max watched as Booth tensed up. And though Max knew that the man was a major screw up, he also knew Booth did love his daughter. So, he extended an olive branch. "But maybe it wasn't completely your fault." Booth questioningly looked at Max before the ex-con added, "Just most of it."

Booth nodded. "I'll accept that."

"Good. Now, I'll get out of here so you can enjoy the evening with your son."

"Thanks."

Max opened the door, and was half way out before adding, "By the way, tell Parker I'm sorry about punching him. And maybe to put a little ice on it."

And with that he was gone.


	27. Parents in the Park

**Oh my gosh, you guys are getting TWO chapters in one week! When was the last time that happened? **

**Thanks again to my awesome beta, meredithgrey23! :)**

**Disclaimers in chapter 1**

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><p>Parker returned home about ten minutes after Max left, with pizza. Booth and Parker had a good night watching TV, and when Booth brought up going to the park to see Brennan and Katy, Parker quickly agreed.<p>

The next morning, though, the Booth boys faced a slight problem. Booth had been up for about thirty minutes and was fixing himself some coffee when Parker emerged from his room with a black ring encircling his left eye. There wasn't a doubt in Booth's mind what, or who, had caused the bruise.

"Hey, Dad. I think I might have gotten a black eye yesterday."

"You _might_ have? Bub, you've got one of the best shiners I've seen in a while, and I've seen some pretty good ones come from suspects attacking agents. Does it hurt?" Booth asked, already heading to get something cold to put on it.

"Not really," Parker shrugged.

"Still, put this on it." He handed his son an ice pack he kept in the freezer for his back.

"For how long? I don't want to be walking around the park with this thing."

Booth sighed. He hadn't even thought about going to the park to meet Bones and Katy. And he had a feeling that the black and blue circle wouldn't be missed by either of the Brenan's. Damn, it looked like he was going to have to tell Bones about Max's visit.

A few hours later, Booth and Parker were at the park waiting on a bench by the merry-go-round. Actually, it was the same bench where Booth had drawn a line for his partnership with Bones. _Obviously that line failed,_ Booth thought with a smile, especially once he saw a little brunette pulling her mother's hand in order to get to the merry-go-round faster. Booth couldn't help but smile at the excitement on Katy's face. He and Parker both stood up in order to greet them.

Katy's eyes locked onto her father and half-brother in an instant, and she began to drag Brennan in that direct with no resistance coming from her mother. Once they were about fifteen yards away, Katy dropped Brennan's hand and leaped towards Booth, engulfing his leg into a hug. "Hi, Daddy!"

Booth let out a little laugh before picking up his daughter. "Hey, Katy. How are you today?"

"I'm great!" Her eyes looked just barely past Booth as she caught sight of Parker. "Hi, Parker! Do you remember me? I'm Katy, your little sister!"

"Really?" Parker answered with mock surprise.

"Yep… Why did you put your make-up on so funny?"

It was around this point that Brennan reached the group. And unlike her daughter, she knew it wasn't eye shadow covering Parker's eye. With concern in her voice, she asked, "Who hit you?"

It might have been years since she had engaged Parker in friendly conversation, but she was still furiously protective of him. She had always considered him part of her family, and if there was one thing you didn't do, it was harm anyone in a Brennan's family. She was already going through her perfect murder checklist from all those years ago.

Booth opened his mouth to explain that there had been a slight ID mix up at the door and he would tell her about it later, but Parker had a different plan. "My science tutor got kinda mad last night; came by and let his rage out me."

"Somebody hurt you?" Katy sounded like her puppy had just died. But she wiggled out of Booth's arms and went to Parker. "Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?"

Parker humored her and bent down so she could kiss it. She kissed him squarely on the eye and then back away a little, before pouting a little. "It's still there!"

"Yeah, but it doesn't hurt anymore."

"Really?"

"Really." Katy gave a big grin, feeling like she had accomplished something. Parker leaned down and asked her, "Do you like merry-go-rounds?" Katy's head bobbed furiously up and down. "Well, I do too. What you say the two of us go ride on one?"

"Okay!" Katy dragged Parker before her parents could say a single word.

"There goes my time with Katy," Booth mumbled.

Brennan, however, was still concerned about Parker. "I assume you've let the school know about their tutor's anger management problem."

"Huh? Oh, the science tutor? He's not from the school." Booth suddenly realized that Bones wasn't going to let this go. Damn, Parker had gotten off easy. At least Katy wasn't around.

"Did you let his employers know?"

"He's not working for anyone."

"Did you contact his parents at least?"

"I think they're dead," Booth admitted. He didn't actually know much about Max's family. He just knew Bones had never known them.

Brennan's face softened just a little. "He's a foster child?"

"No. Bones, he's not a kid. He's an adult."

Anger fuelled her expression again. "Did you arrest him for assaulting a child then?"

"No, because he was coming to hit me and just didn't look before he swung."

It was only then that it clicked for Brennan. "Max did that?"

"In his defense, he thought I was home alone."

"I'm going to kill him."

"Don't do that, Bones," Booth sighed. "I understand where he's coming from. If someone hurt Parker, Katy, or Brooke, it would take a lot of self-control not to take out my gun and shoot them. I'm surprised he didn't shoot me."

Brennan sighed. "How long after I called did he arrive?"

"About ten minutes before." At Brennan's shocked look, he added, "Once he realized Parker was there, there was no more violence, and Hannah had just left with Brooke. Max and I had a little heart-to-heart and know where we stand."

"Which is where?"

"He basically blames me for everything."

Brennan sighed. "He shouldn't. It's just as much my fault for not coming to your office and demanding an answer."

"But I'm the one who let a month go by without talking to you in person. And I had lunch with Hannah and never told you."

"Yes, but that doesn't make it entirely your fault. And Sweets is partially at fault, as well. He knew what you were going through and didn't tell me."

"And he didn't tell me where you were, either; so, I couldn't explain to you."

Brennan felt the rage building up in her once again. "When are we going to go see Sweets about his actions?"

"If by discuss, you mean shoot him, I was going to go in Monday morning. Sweets gets there about 7:30 and the Bureau won't be busy for another hour or so."

"What about Brooke and Parker getting to school?"

"Brooke is with Hannah Sunday night, and Parker drives."

"I will see if Angela and Hodgins will take Katy Monday, so I can accompany you."

"So, we're going to go interrogate Sweets together Monday morning?" Booth smiled. "Sounds like old times."

"When we would broil the suspect?" Brennan asked.

"It's grill, Bones," Booth said, but when he looked up at her, he saw a huge grin on her face. "You messed it up on purpose, didn't you?"

"I thought you would enjoy correcting me. You used to correct me all the time on pop culture and phrases."

"And you would correct me on sciency stuff."

"And historical names. I corrected your pronunciation Gormogon's name several times."

He smiled. "Yeah, you did. But I knew how to pronounce after the third time."

Her brow instantly furrowed. "Then why did you continue to pronounce it incorrectly?"

"It was fun to watch your reaction." Brennan shot him a chiding look, but Booth saw the mirth in her eyes, making Booth's smile and hope a little bigger.

It was a couple minutes later when Parker and Katy returned from the merry-go-round, both with huge smiles on their faces. Katy almost immediately began telling Booth and Brennan how she rode the dolphin (because it was her favorite animal just like her mom), and how Parker was on the lion the entire time. After Katy described most everyone she and Parker passed with such enthusiasm, Booth thought for a moment he was listening to Brennan talk about bones, he asked everyone if they would like ice cream. Of course, asking a six year old if she want ice cream is about as pointless as asking a teenage boy if he wants food. Brennan, unlike the children, was a little hesitant.

"Booth, Katy and I had ice cream yesterday."

"So?"

"It's not exactly healthy to have ice cream on a daily basis."

"Come on, it's just two days in a row, Bones. It's not a big deal."

"I like Daddy's opinion!" Katy quickly chimed in. Parker smirked at her response which otherwise fell on deaf ears.

"I don't want to cause her to create bad habits-"

"It's ice cream. You can't tell me that you never had more than you were supposed to as a kid. I'm sure you and Russ were sneaking sweets when your parents weren't looking. And now look at you, you're healthy."

"But in your scenario, we had to sneak-"

"Bones," he cut her off. This was ridiculous. They were fighting over _ice cream_, for God's sake. One scoop wasn't going to kill Katy, Parker, or anyone else.

Brennan sighed, again. She didn't know why she was getting so worked up over ice cream. She had actually given Katy ice cream multiple times in one day before. She just had felt the need to tell Booth no. Maybe it was a gut feeling. "Fine."

Booth smiled, debating if he should voice his surprise at winning the last two discussions. He quickly decided against it to see how long this streak would last. "Great. Do you want a vanilla scoop?"

Brennan nodded. Katy quickly asked for chocolate, as did Parker. A few minutes later, the four of them were sitting on a bench, each with their own cone. And it was during this time, Booth figured he should get to know his daughter. "So, Katy, when's your birthday?"

"February 23. When's yours?"

"May 16," Booth answered.

"April 8," Parker told her.

Brennan stayed quiet until Katy gave her an expectant looking. "October 11."

"Yours is coming up pretty soon, Bones," Parker told her.

Brennan shrugged. Forty-two wasn't a big deal. She had just been planning on dinner with her father, though she had a feeling that somehow Booth, Parker and the rest of the lab would now be celebrating it with her.

"Guess we should start looking for birthday presents," Booth told his kids with a smile.

"That's not necessary," Brennan tried to tell him. But even she could tell that he wasn't going to listen to her.

"Can I help pick out Mommy's present?"

"You bet. Parker and I need all the help we can get, right?"

"Yep," his son answered with a smile.

The rest of the conversation continued in a similar manner. Booth would ask Katy a question, who in turn would demand an answer from everybody else which would spark a discussion. After Booth found out his daughter's favorite stuffed animal (a stuffed bear Max had given her after much protest from Brennan), favorite school subject in school so far (science, what a surprise), and a long list of other things, they took Katy to the playground and watched as she began to slide and talk to other kids. The other three took the time to catch up on what had been going on in each other's lives.

Before any of them knew it, though, it was seven o'clock and that meant that Brennan had to get Katy home for bed. Booth and Parker walked Brennan and Katy back to their car before saying goodbyes.

Parker started by going over to Katy and giving her a big hug and picking her up, causing her to giggle. Meanwhile, Booth and Brennan stood there awkwardly. Despite spending all day together, they still had no idea where their relationship stood. Should they hug? Shake hands? Kiss on the cheek?

Booth finally made a decision and kissed Brennan on the cheek. "I had a lot of fun today, Bones."

Brennan felt her breath catch. She had been stuck between a hand shake and hug, so Booth's more intimate action startled her. It even took her a moment to realize what he had said. And she didn't respond to it until she could keep a more controlled demeanor. "Me too, Booth. Sometime this week, we'll figure out a schedule so you can see Katy more."

"Sounds good. And we'll meet in my office Monday morning?"

Brennan simply nodded, not entirely trusting herself to speak. Booth opened his mouth to say something else, but felt something clutch at his leg. When he looked down, he saw Katy holding on to him. So, he bent down to her level and gave her a big hug. "Did you have fun today?"

"Yep! You and Parker are awesome! We should do this every weekend!"

"Maybe we will," Booth smiled.

"Really?"

"Really." Katy smiled just as big as Booth, if not more so.

"I love you, Daddy," she told him as if she had been saying it for years as she hugged him again.

Booth felt his heart swell at the words and quickly told her, "I love you, too, Katy. Don't ever forget it."

When he released Katy he looked up to see Parker and Brennan in an embrace as well. Booth knew that Parker had taken it about as hard as any of the squints when Brennan disappeared, but for his father's sake had kept it hidden. Now, though, she was back, and there was no way in hell Booth was going to lose her again.


	28. Psychologist in Trouble

**I'm so sorry I haven't updated in forever! My life has been unbelievably hectic this month, and there just haven't been enough hours in the day. But I do have this story written out now, so all that's needed is time for me to post it. I will try to better about posting.**

**As always, thanks to my awesome beta, meredithgrey23.**

**Oh, and I want to recommend a story to everyone! It's called Chasing Echos by Ending-Daley. It's an X-Files fic, but if you don't mind spoilers for the series you should read it. And if you have never seen X-Files, you should at least watch the pilot and see who those Mulder and Scully people Booth mentions in the pilot episode of Bones are. (It's an awesome show.)**

**Anyway, disclaimers in chapter one and I'll let you guys get to reading. **

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><p>That Sunday went by relatively quickly; Parker spent the afternoon doing homework, while Booth plotted how to take revenge on Sweets. The kid deserved it, after all. He had known for seven years where Brennan was and had never told Booth, or passed the word along to Brennan about what had really happened. Booth was somewhat pleased that he and Sweets had finally just set up a standard seven- thirty Monday morning appointment to work through everything, because now he knew Sweets would be alone in his office waiting for him to discuss Brennan's arrival. Not that Sweets had told him Brennan was back last week, but Booth would just add that to the list of sins.<p>

Finally, Sunday night rolled around, and after some sleep, it was Monday morning. And by seven- fifteen, Booth was in his office waiting for Bones, who arrived at seven- twenty. They planned for a minute, before they walked down to an unsuspecting Sweets' office together.

Booth went in first, while Brennan remained in the shrink's waiting room. He found the kid sitting at his computer, typing something. Sweets must have heard him come in because he asked Booth to take a seat. "I'll be ready in just a minute."

"You working on your will or something?"

"No, just some paperwork to make the new anthropologist at the lab official." _But I'll need that will once you realize who Dr. Baines is, _Sweets added mentally. "So, what do you want to talk about today?"

"Well, Brooke started school last week," Booth told him casually.

"Okay, I was hoping to talk to you more about the new anthropologist-"

Booth cut him off. "She's made friends with the new squint's kid. Funny thing is that it took me five days to meet her mom, who has been living here for two weeks and had no idea how much I've regretted what I did seven years ago, even though I've been talking to one of her email buddies for about seven years." Booth's tone might have neutral, however, his body language was anything but.

_Maybe I should have been working on my will._ "I can explain!"

"Great," Booth told him as he stood up and opened the door. "He's apparently got a reason."

Sweets silently hoped that Booth was talking to world, but that dream was shattered when a very angry Brennan walked into the room. This was going to be _so_ much fun. "Dr. Brennan, I wasn't expecting to see you here this morning."

"I wasn't expecting to be experimented on again, so I guess we're even."

Sweets crinkled his brow. "Who's experimenting?"

"I'm more concerned about when the first time was," Booth added, looking back and forth between the two.

"Wait," the psychologist said, "you think that's what I was doing? You guys are my friends; why would I do that to you?"

"Why didn't you tell me Booth's side of the story then? That's what a friend would have done."

"I couldn't!"

"Why the hell not, Sweets?" the deputy director growled.

"Because _you_ wouldn't let me!"

Brennan quickly turned and looked at Booth with a mixture of hate, hurt and confusion. He took one look at her face and immediately faced Sweets again. "Maybe because you never asked!"

"But I did! I asked every session from day one until you threatened to shoot me between the eyes if I didn't stop pestering you about it!"

"Session?" Brennan cut in. "You've been seeing Sweets on a professional basis?"

Booth shrugged. "Yeah, kinda."

"Booth, if you've told Sweets this information in a professional capacity, then he wouldn't have been able to tell me."

Booth looked at her like she had sprung another head. "He never asked if he could tell you! I thought he wanted to put it in another book or something!"

"Why didn't you ask Booth if you could tell me his story?"

"What would have happened if I asked if I could tell Dr. Brennan?" Sweets asked Booth.

" I would have demanded to know where she was. So?"

"I promised her I wouldn't tell you. And if that was the case, then you would have gone to ask everyone at the lab who would have told you the exact same thing. And then, knowing you, you'd probably hack into one of our emails or get a warrant on false charges or something to read what we were writing Dr. Brennan about!"

"I have no reason to get a warrant, and I'm not exactly the hacking type."

"But you know all of Cam's passwords," Brennan added, getting a raised eyebrow from Sweets and shocked expression from Booth.

"What?"

"Well, you knew her Jeffersonian password, and she told me once that she makes all her passwords the same."

"Okay, fine! So, I would have tried to figure out where you were! What's the big deal?"

Instead of directing his next question at Booth, Sweets looked to Brennan. "If he had shown up on your front doorstep one day, what's the likelihood that you would have listened to his story?"

Brennan thought about it for a second. "Depending on when in the seven years he came, not very high. In fact, you had to be buzzed in, so I probably would have refused to see him or slipped out the backdoor to go stay with Russ or Dad."

"And would you have continued emailing us?"

"To keep my whereabouts unknown, I would probably have only continued talking to Angela."

"Who's hated my guts since you left until last week," Booth thought out loud.

"Would you have believed me if I had told you Booth's story?" Sweets asked.

"Probably not."

"Why not?" Booth asked a little surprised.

"Because that would mean that you chose to go to therapy, and if you had not told me that yourself, I wouldn't have believed it. Thus, making the entire story suspicious."

"Okay, fine. But why didn't you tell her that she needed to talk to me?" he asked Sweets.

The two answers came at the same time.

"I did."

"He did."

"Then why didn't you?" he asked Brennan, slightly hurt.

"I was still angry. And having Sweets and Cam continuously tell me I need to talk to you was so repetitive, I just began to ignore them. However, neither of them let me know that you started gambling again."

Both Booth and Sweets' heads shot up at that. Booth looked to Sweets for an answer, but saw just as much confusion. "Who-?"

"Parker. I'm more concerned that you started betting again, though."

"I haven't in years, Bones. It was just right after you left. Rebecca and Hannah snapped me out of it pretty quickly."

Brennan simply nodded.

"Out of curiosity," Sweets started, "how much responsibility of your guys' situation did you put on me?"

"Most of it," Brennan answered honestly.

He gave a sarcastic nod and unhappy smile. "Okay, and you realize now that most of that blame belongs in somewhere else, right?"

Booth and Brennan looked at each other and saw a flash in the other's eye. They answered as one, "No."

Sweets watched the smirks form on their faces. They knew that the blame was on themselves, but to admit it they both thought the new guilt fell on the other at this point in their relationship would be detrimental. And as long as they didn't seriously blame him, he could take the faux responsibility.

"Something to eat?" Booth asked Brennan.

"I could eat."

As they stood to walk out, Brennan held the door open for Booth and he willing walked through. Brennan on the other hand turned back to Sweets. "I'm sorry for putting you in an awkward situation."

Sweets gave a half smile and nod, and Brennan walked out of the office.


	29. Advice from the Problem

**Okay, I'm saying this up front. Please do not complain about Hannah being in the story. Please. I know most people dislike her, but I really don't have a problem with her. I'm giving you another chapter within a week, so please?**

**Okay, thank you as always to my awesome beta, meredithgrey23. I hope your internet stops being a pain.**

**Disclaimers in chapter one.**

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><p>Surprisingly, Booth and Brennan made it out of the FBI with only a couple of odd stares. After all, Booth and Brennan's relationship had been the biggest piece of gossip since Spooky and the missus had disappeared; and Booth had answered more than one question about their relationship right after she had left. So with her sudden reappearance, new rumors would be circling around the Hoover by noon.<p>

At the Diner, the two chatted nothing important, mostly just getting reacquainted. Booth asked when a good time to see Katy again would be, and Brennan offered to let him watch her for the weekend. Of course, Booth quickly agreed. As they were leaving, Booth asked if Brennan wanted to grab lunch at their favorite Thai place which she agreed to.

After breakfast at the Diner, Brennan went to the lab. She had asked Angela to let Cam know she would be a little late as she had matters to attend to before work. So, when she walked in at nine- fifteen, she was surprised to find that Cam was on the platform looking over a body with almost no flesh. Brennan quickly approached her. "This doesn't look like the type of body you normally examine."

Cam jumped a little out of surprise before turning to face Brennan. "Dr. Brennan, when did you get here?"

"Just now. Let me put on my lab coat, and then I'll start working with the remains-"

"You've got a visitor in your office."

"I wasn't expecting anyone," Brennan told her.

"Yeah, well, neither was Angela when she walked into your office to ask how your morning meeting with Sweets went- which I expect you or Booth to tell me about eventually."

"That's reasonable. Is Angela still in my office, too?"

"No, I sent her to see Hodgins or to do work or something because I wasn't even in the proper lab yet and I could feel the temperature drop twenty degrees."

"Angela adjusted the thermostat?" she asked walking back down the steps towards her office.

Cam sighed. Seven years without much verbal contact with Dr. Brennan made her forget sometimes how literal the anthropologist could be. "No, but the tension between her and Hannah was thick enough to cut with a knife."

The name stopped Brennan in her tracks, and after a moment, she turned around to look at Cam. "Hannah?"

"Yeah, she said she really needed to talk to you in private. I'm pretty sure Angela told her to get out, but she said she wouldn't until she saw you."

"I haven't spoken to Hannah since the night she called to tell me she and Booth broke up."

Cam nodded, knowing what a difficult time that was for her. It had only been two months prior the entire lab had seen her undergo a slightly terrifying transformation during one of the cases that had urged three of them to go ask Sweets to check on her. Cam wasn't sure when Dr. Brennan had fully recovered from that, or if she ever did.

"Well, now's your chance, unless you want me to tell her you're sick."

Brennan shook her head. "No, I'll see what she wants."

Brennan walked into her office to find Hannah sitting on her couch. The two women made immediate eye contact, but neither spoke a word. They maintained the eye contact as Brennan put her things away and sat across from Hannah.

"Hello, Hannah."

"Hi, Temperance. How have you been?"

"Fine. And yourself?"

"Pretty good."

Another awkward moment passed, before Brennan said, "Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

Hannah took a deep breath. "I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry for whatever part I played in your decision to leave. I had no idea that you and Seeley were involved when I asked him to help me raise Brooke. If I had, I never would have asked him. I just knew he had always wanted more kids, and I knew I had made a mistake when I turned him down. I guess I just didn't think a few months later he'd be in another serious relationship."

"Why is that so hard to believe?"

Hannah let a small, sad smiled slid across her face. "When I first met Seeley, I thought he'd just gone through a divorce or serious break-up. It took him saving me three months after he arrived for him to know I existed, and that was not due to a lack of trying on my part. He mentioned you a lot once we started talking, and for a while, I thought that you were his best male friend. Honestly, when I found out you were a woman, I was jealous. But he told me there was nothing between you; and I believed him. But if it took him three months to notice my existence on the outskirts of a military base, where there were only a handful of American women, he didn't want to see us. That was five months after you turned him down over entering a relationship. I came back, five months after he proposed to me. I thought he would just be starting to back into dating. But I realized something after you left, actually a couple of things. First was that he was never fully mine. As much as he would deny it, if you had asked him to do something in the middle of the night, he would have dropped what he was doing and coming running. Second, I was a replacement for you, Temperance."

"No," Brennan interrupted her. "Booth loved you. You were not a consolation prize."

Hannah shook her head. "Have you ever noticed that two months after you told Seeley that you had made a mistake, he decides to ask a woman who had made it very clear from the start she didn't want to be married, to marry him. Because _Sweets_ had pointed out he wasn't getting any younger, and we both know how much Seeley listens to him. And he made the decision to ask me while drunk. I was convenient, fun, but Seeley and I never would have lasted. His heart wasn't completely in it, because you would always have a piece of it."

"Hannah, I think you're giving me too much credit."

"No, I'm not. He got drunk the night I broke up with him. He started gambling after you left him. Rebecca told me that he didn't start gambling until he got back from serving, after Parker was born, so it wasn't their break up that started it, either. Also, according to her, there's a strange correlation between when you worked your first case together and he stopped gambling. You made him work at being a better man; the man I met in the Middle East."

"That was his career, Parker, and his friendships, not only with me, but the entire team at the lab."

"No, because he when you left, he stopped being the same Seeley Booth. Temperance, have you ever heard the phrase 'With great power comes great responsibility'?"

"I believe so. Why is that relevant?"

"Because you held Seeley's heart and then you broke it. And I'm not saying Seeley's without fault, or I'm not without fault. But you never forced him to explain the situation, and made a wrong assumption that hurt him because of it. We both know that he is going to take the blame for this, too, because he's always trying to protect the people he cares about. I think that's the only reason he asked to help take care of Brooke, because he needed to protect someone. And now he'll protect you from the guilt as much as possible; he'll try to protect Katy from your work and every other problem she might face. But he won't protect his heart when he tries to give it to you, and that's part of your responsibility."

"Hannah, Booth and I aren't in love anymore. It's been seven years. We share a daughter and past, that's it. I'm hoping to regain a friendship, too."

"But he's going to ask for a relationship, again. And if you say no, again, I'm not sure how he's going to take it."

"You're exaggerating," Brennan tried to convince herself and Hannah.

"No, I'm not. You know what I've come to realize in the past decade? You only have _that_ moment when you know you're supposed to be with somebody once, if you're lucky. But occasionally, if the universe really thinks you belong together, you'll get as many chances as it takes. Temperance, Seeley told me about that night in the rain during your first case. He told me about the night outside of the FBI building. He told me about the night you told him you made a mistake. And then he told me how your friend got shot, and that was what it took for you two to take your relationship to the next level. It took four times for you both to be ready before anything happened. And then that got screwed up. Now, you're getting a fifth chance. And as much as I want the universe to give you as many as it takes, eventually it's going to give up. So take the bull by the horns and run with it."

"There are several flaws in your suggestion. The largest being that the universe does not affect Booth and my relationship."

"But you two still need to give this another shot; I've seen Seeley without you, and it's not a pretty sight. At least in Afghanistan, he knew he'd have a friend to come back to. But really, it's up to you and Seeley. I just thought you might want to have more evidence before you came to a final conclusion."

Brennan stayed silent and watched as Hannah stood to leave, the office now holding the same tension as when Brennan entered. The reporter was at the door, when Brennan had a question that she felt the need to ask. "Hannah, why did you come to Booth for help to raise your child? Why not Brooke's biological father?"

"You were always direct," Hannah smiled. "Honestly, I wanted to get him involved, but we never exchanged last names and Seeley always says he'll look into but never does. He won't even listen to the entire story. I think he just doesn't want to lose his daughter."

"How did you meet Brooke's biological father then?"

"I had just been sent to Florida to cover a story, because I asked to be sent out of Washington after Seeley and my breakup. I went to get drunk one night, and began talking to a guy at the bar. He was smart, witty, cute, and somehow we started talking about our exes. I talked about Seeley, he talked about his girlfriend who refused to cruise the Caribbean with him." Hannah let out a laugh at this point. "I had forgotten about her. He said that it was probably for the best, but he still missed her. He cared about her like I do for Seeley, but they didn't have the right moment. She stayed back to work with his friend. He always knew the two of them had something, but neither of them would admit it."

"So talking about your past relationships made you want to have intercourse with each other?"

"Not exactly. He knew what I was going through, and like I said, he was sweet and cute. He took me back to his boat," Hannah burst into laughter at his point, "I refused to get on it, too! So, we ended up going back to my motel room."

"Why wouldn't you get on his boat?" Brennan asked, even though she knew it was none of her business.

"Because the boat made me think of Seeley, and that wouldn't be far to Tim."

"How does a boat remind you of Booth? He doesn't even like being on boats particularly. Or he didn't seven years ago."

"He still, doesn't," Hannah assured her. "And it wasn't the boat itself; it was the name of the boat."

"Was it named after John Wilkes Booth or something?"

"No! It was actually named after alcohol free movement in the early twentieth century."

Brennan froze. The chances of the two meeting were so small, but it would explain why Brooke looked familiar to Brennan, besides Hannah's traits that is. She took a deep breath and asked, "It was named after me."

"Well, I think it's more likely named after the virtue, but it-"

Before Hannah was finished, Brennan walked out of her office, cell phone in hand. She rushed to Angela's office and found the artist sitting at her computer. She needed his number to know if it was true. "Ange, I need you to get me a number."

"Sure, Sweetie. But what's the rush?"

"I know who Brooke's father is."


	30. Fight in the Misunderstanding

**Another chapter! Yay! Thanks for respecting my request for no Hannah bashing, by the way. :)**

**Thanks also to my awesome beta, who even though her life is hectic is making time to edit my story. **

**Disclaimers in chapter one.**

* * *

><p>Booth was ecstatic; he and Bones were finally getting on the right track. He'd known she was in town for four days, had a blossoming relationship with Katy, and was scheduled to have lunch with Bones later that day. For him, life couldn't get much better.<p>

This is the mindset Booth entered the Jeffersonian with, to drag Brennan away from whatever body she'd been looking at all morning. His first place to look for her was bone storage, but the only bones there were actual ones. So, he went into the lab and headed straight for her office. Her door was open, so he assumed she was expecting him. However, when he entered she was on the phone.

"Yes, seven years ago in Florida… I'm fairly certain… Yes… Because you're a father."

Booth's heart stopped as he stood in the doorway. Who the hell was Bones talking to about being the father of a six year old? And more importantly, why?

Brennan however was still oblivious to Booth's presence and continued to talk on the phone. "I had Angela run a paternity test, and if came back as a match. You're her father… Because she looks like you!... I had Angela run it the test three times. You're definitely the father… A daughter, she's six. Look, when you get some time, come up to Washington and I'll introduce you to her… The end of the week? Okay, just come by my apartment and you can stay there... That's fine, too… I'll see you then."

Brennan hung up the phone and noticed Booth standing her doorway with a mix of hurt, pain, and confusion; a face she was seeing too often now.

"Bones, what's going on?" he asked hesitantly.

"I was calling an old friend. Are you here to go to lunch?" Brennan had already decided to talk this through with him during the meal.

"I was, but I'm more concerned with why you're telling someone they had a six year old daughter!"

"Because he has a right to know. Look, Booth, can we go to lunch-"

"No. I wanna know who you were talking to."

"I feel like in this case, I should tell Hannah what's going on first."

"Hannah?" And then it clicked as to who the six year old girl was. "You looked up who Brooke's father is?"

"More or less. Actually, Hannah told me about the night they had intercourse and I had a hypothesis. I ran a paternity test and it came back positive."

"How the hell did you get either set of DNA?"

"Brooke had some juice and Angela hadn't washed the cup."

"And her father's?"

"His was already registered."

"No way am I letting anyone's whose DNA is registered near Brooke!"

"Booth, _your_ DNA is registered. As are mine, Angela's, Cam's, Hodgins', Sweets', and anyone else who works for the government."

"And every criminal!"

"You can't be serious. Booth, he's not a criminal!"

"How well do you really know this guy, Bones?"

"We had sex for several months, so I would say pretty well," she answered in a cold demeanor, but the flames of the passionate rage were already beginning to melt the ice.

"Well, you were ready to have sex with a guy who killed his brother by chopping off his head! The fireman from that one case, yeah, I arrested him on your date! Oh, and then there was your professor who turned out to be a jerk and basically told the jury you didn't have feelings. How many times had you banged him before that?" Booth knew instantly he was taking it too far. He just wasn't comfortable with Brooke being exposed to someone who had some connection to crime. And Brennan's track record on people wasn't particularly good. He knew she had the best intentions, but telling him that she had sex with the guy wasn't going to help him. In fact, it kinda made him lose control.

By this point, Brennan was standing up. And Booth knew he was in trouble, because usually when people got Bones mad, they ran. But not him. No, he was the idiot who would stand there and put as much fire into an argument as her. She spat, "You forgot about the man who has killed around seventy-five people and faked his death without telling me! But no, Booth, don't trust my judgment at all! Because clearly you don't trust me to help anymore!"

"Trust? You want to bring trust into this? How about you trusting me not to betray you seven years ago?"

"I did trust you! That's why I waited around for a month for an explanation! But you wouldn't give me one, because you had orders not to!"

"No, I just never had a chance to talk to you in person! And by the time I did, you had disappeared and had Angela ready to shoot me! In case you hadn't figured it out by now, I did look for you. But you fucking changed your name, so I wouldn't find you!"

"I thought you were going back to Hannah! I was trying to help you by letting you move on!"

"I had told you I loved you!"

"You said that about Hannah too! And you had proposed to her before!"

"I told you I had known there was something between us since the moment I saw you!"

"Yes, almost two years before hand! And a little over a year after you told me that, you were proposing to Hannah! Face it, Booth, the evidence showed you wanted have a life with Hannah; not me!"

"Screw the evidence! You know that's not true! You know what really happened? You got scared of what was happening between us. A committed relationship, a baby, discussing moving in together. You got scared, and when you saw Hannah, it gave you a reason to run!"

Booth suddenly felt a burning sensation on his cheek, and Brennan's right hand retreating back to her side. "You rat bastard. You think that I wanted to run from the best family I had in twenty years? You think I wanted to leave my life? You think I wanted to take away my daughter's chance to know her father? Because I didn't! I didn't mean to let seven years pass, they just did!"

"But you made the choice to hide from me. To ask our friends not to tell me how you were, or that that they knew about Katy! I would have been there in a second if I had known where you were. You kept me out, and know you're trying to kick me out of Brooke's life!"

"No! I'm trying to help Hannah! Unlike you, who refuses to search for Brooke's biological father like you said you would! I was only trying to help! But if you don't trust me to bring people into Brooke and Katy's life, then maybe you think I've just done a terrible job with Katy!"

"Katy's life? You're crazy if you think I'm letting this guy into either of the girls or Parker's life!"

"Katy is my daughter, and she's going to meet him. And I'm betting when I tell Hannah that he's in Washington, she'll at least want to talk to him again, possibly have Brooke see him! You have no right to stop her! And I've had sole custody of Katy since she was born, so you can't stop me either!"

"You would endanger your daughter to make a point? Maybe you are a heartless mother!" Brennan froze, and Booth knew he was in deep trouble. He took a deep breath. "Shit. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I know you're a great moth-"

"Get out."

"What?"

"Get. Out."

"Bones, I said I was sorry. I know I was way out of line-"

"Booth, don't make me call security. Or worse disable you in some way. Leave my office. Now."

Booth sighed and took a deep breath. He made it to the door where this entire thing had started, before he turned around. "I'm really sorry, Bones. I didn't mean anything I said."

"Booth, I asked you to leave," she answered in a cool tone that sent ice shooting through his system.

Booth nodded, knowing that Brennan would need time. As he walked out of the building, he prayed to God that he hadn't just driven Brennan away, again.


	31. Man in the Taxi

**I know it's been too long since I've updated! I'll try to do better, though. There's only two chapters left, by the way. **

**Thanks to my amazing beta, meredithgrey23, for looking over the chapter, even though she is insanely busy. **

**Disclaimers in chapter one.**

* * *

><p>Katy did not know what was going on. Saturday at the park, Mommy and Daddy seemed happy and like they were best friends. Sunday, Mommy told her that Angela was taking her to school on Monday because Daddy and her had to go talk to Sweets. And Monday afternoon when she saw Mommy, she had been crying, and she would not let Katy call Daddy so he could make it better. For the rest of the week, Mommy seemed sad, and Katy could not figure out a way to make it better. She even asked Angela who basically said that her Mommy and Daddy had been fighting Monday morning and had not made up yet.<p>

By Friday afternoon, nothing had changed, and Katy was getting worried her parents might never make up. And even worse, her mommy had packed a bag for her. She was afraid they might be moving again, and Katy really did not want to. She was planning on running away to the lab or to Daddy's (if she could find it) if Mommy told her they were moving. However, there was a call about four o'clock and Katy ran to answers her mom's cell phone.

"Hello?"

"_Katy?_"

"Daddy! How are you? I haven't seen you in forever!"

"_I'm doing pretty well. Listen, will you see if your mom will talk to me?"_

"Yep. Mommy!" Katy yelled. Her voice echoed throughout the apartment. The older of the females quickly ran out from her bedroom.

"Katy? What's wrong?"

"Daddy wants to talk to you." Katy handed her the phone and sat down to listen to the conversation.

"Booth?... I'm fine…I'm not taking your time with her away. I told you she could stay with you this weekend… An hour? That's fine. She'll be ready when you get here."

Katy began to get excited. She was going to go stay with Daddy for the weekend? That would make sense why Mommy did not pack a bag for herself. But why had she not told Katy sooner? So, once she hung up the phone, Katy asked, "I'm staying with Daddy for the weekend?"

"If you want to."

"Of course, I do, Mommy!" Katy immediately ran into her room to make sure Mommy packed the important things. She was good about remembering clothes and stuff, but not toys. Katy grabbed Ursula, her stuffed bear, and a couple of games and books. She snatched Jasper and Brainy too. Technically, they were Mommy's toys, but she let Katy hold on to them. And Katy would be sure to bring them back before Mommy noticed.

An hour later, there was a knock at the front door. Katy ran to get it, but Mommy was closer and beat her to it. Of course, it was Daddy standing on the other side. Katy decided to go get her stuff and then give him a big hug. When she returned, Mommy and Daddy were whispering to each other, but their voices weren't very friendly. So, she dropped her bags and listened to them fight.

"I'm sorry about the stuff I said, I just don't like the idea of another guy taking my place in her life."

"But he's not going to! He just wants to meet her! And I talked to Hannah, and she thinks it's a good idea. Plus, weren't you supposed to tell her this week?"

"What am I supposed to say, Bones? 'Brooke, I'm not your dad but some guy Katy's mom knows is'?"

"You always tried to get me to trust my intuition. Now that I am, why are you telling me that's not going to work?"

"Because you can't bring every random guy into a kid's life!"

"He's not that random!"

"Bones, he's a guy Hannah slept with after they swapped sob stories. Not the most reliable- Katy?" Daddy asked as he finally noticed her standing in the hall with all of her things, listening intently to the conversation.

"Hi, Daddy," she said going to give him a hug, which he happily returned. "Are you and Mommy fighting?"

"No, we're just having a discussion."

"Really? Because it sounds like fighting and I don't like it," she pouted.

"Well, we aren't fighting, but we have a couple things to talk about before we go."

"But I don't want to hear you guys talk about things."

"Well, unless you want to sit in the car-"

"Okay!"

"No!" Mommy answered.

"Relax, Bones. I wasn't seriously offering."

"I wanna play driver!" Katy piped in. "I'm a big girl! It's the big black car, and its unlocked, right?"

"No, Katy. If you really want, you can wait in the hall, but do not go outside," Mommy instructed. Katy nodded in agreement and rushed into the hall. She went down to the end of the hall, where the door was and stared out of it. It was a really pretty day, and there was a swing set within her view. Katy looked behind her to see that her parents weren't watching bolted outside. She made it to the playground without either parent telling her to stop.

She began swinging, though she half listened for her parents yelling out her name. She had actually been out there about five minutes when a taxi pulled up to the apartment building. A man with brown hair who looked around Daddy's age, but he was shorter. He handed something to the driver and the car drove away. He looked like he was going to go to the door of the apartment complex when he saw Katy. He immediately came towards her.

"Are you supposed to be out here alone?"

"No," Katy told him casually.

"Do your parents know where you are?"

"They think I'm in the hallway, waiting for Daddy."

"But you snuck out?"

Katy shrugged. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

"Good advice. There are a lot of mean people in the world."

"That's what Mommy and Daddy tell me. Daddy's boss is a meanie, and I used to think Daddy was a meanie. But he's not."

"That's kinda what I meant," the man smiled.

"Wait, were you talking about bad guys?"

"Yeah."

Katy suddenly realized that she might be talking to one of these bad guys. "Are you a bad guy?"

"No. I'm a good guy. I actually used to work for the FBI and help put away the bad guys."

The letters "FBI" caught Katy's attention. "Did you work with my daddy?"

"You're dad's FBI?"

"Yep."

"Well, I quit the FBI before you were born, so I can't make any promises, but maybe. What's his name?"

"Booth!"

"Seeley Booth?" the guy asked.

"You know him!"

"Yeah. What's your mom's name?"

"Well, everyone in North Carolina called her Dr. Baines, everyone at the lab calls her Brennan, Daddy calls her Bones, and Grandpa and Russ call her Tempe."

The man shook his head and muttered something like "Not wanting her, my ass," before speaking loudly enough for Katy to understand. "I know Tempe and Booth. We're old friends. Okay, I'm going to call your mom and let her know I'm here. And I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to rat you out to your mom, because you need a key to get into your building."

Katy sighed. "Can't you not say I'm out here?"

"You're parents are smart, they'll be able to figure it out, and this way you'll be safe," he told her as he pulled out his phone. He pressed a few buttons and then Katy heard the phone call her mom. He had put it on speaker phone. Unfortunately, after several rings it went to voice mail.

"Guess we're stuck out here," Katy smiled, happy not to be ratted out.

"Your dad change his cell phone number recently?" the man asked. Katy shrugged again. "Well, I'll call him and we'll find out."

Again the phone rang. But this time after three rings, someone picked up. _"Booth."_

"Hey, Booth, it's Sully."

"_Sully? How've you been, man? It's been a while."_

"Going on eleven years, I think."

"_Something crazy like that. Are in DC or something?"_

"Yeah, didn't Tempe tell you?"

"_No."_

"Weird. Guess it was supposed to be a surprise. Listen, I just pulled up to Tempe's apartment and imagine my surprise to find a little girl swinging by herself across the street."

"Hi, Daddy!"

"_Katy? Sully, please tell me you're really in the hallway and not outside."_

"I can't get in the building, and Katy is very happy on this swing."

"_Katy, you weren't supposed to leave the hallway!"_

"But it's pretty outside."

"_Booth, who are you talking to?" _a slightly muffled, but clearly still Mommy, voice asked.

"_Sully, he's outside your apartment complex. He found Katy on the swings across the street."_

"_What? She's supposed to be in the hallway!"_

"_I know that!"_

"Right, well, I'll walk her back across the street if you guys will let us in," Sully offered.

"_Thanks, Sully," _Booth commented, before he hung up.

"Come on, kid, let's get back inside so your parents don't kill us."

"Fine," she pouted. But she got off the swing and followed Sully to the door where Mommy and Daddy where waiting. And neither of them looked very happy.

"Katelyn Christine Angela Baines, what did I tell you about going outside?" Mommy demanded.

"Not to. But it's so pretty-"

"Katy," Daddy cut her off, "you knew your mom and I didn't want you going outside alone. You disobeyed us. I know it's a pretty day, but that's not a good reason."

"What made you think it would be okay?"

"I didn't think you would notice; you were too busy fighting. And you wouldn't have if he didn't call you!" Katy said, pointing to Sully.

Both Mommy and Daddy glanced at the other then at Sully. Mommy was the first to speak. "We'll discuss this later. But there will be repercussions."

"Bones," Daddy slightly hissed, "she's five. She's not going to know what that means."

Katy wondered what her age had to do with her vocabulary. She knew what repercussions meant. Mommy used that word a lot. "It's not that I can't still go with Daddy, is it?"

Daddy looked at Katy, then at Mommy. "You can still come with me, but you're still going to be in trouble."

"That sounds fair. I'll go get Katy's things."

"I'll go get the car."

"Katy, where did you put your bags earlier?"

Katy shrugged. She knew she put them by the wall, but it would be easier to just to go with Mommy to get her suitcase. "I'll show you."

She took Mommy's hand and they went back to the apartment.


	32. Truth in the Revelation

Booth was about to go get his car when he realized that Sully had been standing there quietly the entire time. "Hey, Sully, sorry you had to see that. How've you been, man?"

Sully looked between Brennan, Katy and Booth a couple of times, before the question sunk in. "Uh, good. A little freaked out at the moment, though. Was Parker that much of a handful when he was six?"

The agent shrugged. "Rebecca didn't give me a lot of time with him back then, but yeah it's pretty normal for them to test the rules. You don't spend a lot of time around kids, huh?"

The two men began to walk towards the car. "Not really. I mean, I've spent the past eleven years cruising around the Caribbean. I guess I need to get used to it, though."

"You thinking about finally settling down? I mean, you'll have to find a girl who's willing to have you first, but we're going on fifty. It might be a good idea."

"Funny, old man. But in case you don't remember, I don't have a problem finding women. I dated Tempe how long before you?"

Booth lost some of his jovial mood. "Yeah, trust me, I remember."

"So, how long after I left did you and Tempe start seeing each other?"

"Uh, four years."

Sully stopped dead in his tracts. "You're kidding. You two had the hots for each other when we were dating. What took you so long?"

Booth pretended not to notice that Sully stopped moving. "Stuff came up."

"Like what? The apocalypse?"

"Zack went to the Middle East and came back, I arrested her dad, Zack killed someone, she dated my brother then Hacker, I had a brain tumor, she rejected me, I-"

"Whoa, slow down. What? I'm not sure what to ask about first."

"We'll have beer sometime and I'll tell you about it. How long are you here for?"

"Hopefully, a while."

"You don't know for sure?"

"Well, I'm not sure how welcomed I am. I just found out I have a kid."

"Wow, congrats. Your ex just called you out of the blue to tell you?"

"No, I haven't talked to her since the night we slept together. She was someone I picked up at a bar when I was in Florida. Have you ever met someone and just known from the beginning?"

Booth did not even have to think, he knew exactly what Sully was talking about. He had that feeling when he walked into American University fourteen years ago. "Yeah, I know that feeling. If this girl was so special, why'd you only see her that one night?"

"Timing, more than anything. I had to make a delivery, and she was there on work. Plus, we never really exchanged last names or phone numbers. It was… spontaneous."

"Wait, then how do you know she has a kid? Let alone it's yours?"

Sully looked at Booth for a second before shaking his head. "You and Tempe don't communicate very well, do you?"

"What? What's that got to do with anything?"

"She's friends with Hannah, the girl."

Suddenly, Booth made the connections that Brennan had made earlier in the week. It was not some homicidal maniac she had misplaced her trust in; it was a man Booth considered a friend. A man that Booth knew would take care of Brooke. And he thought he had owed Bones an apology earlier, a really big one.

"You're that Tim…"

"You know Hannah too?" Sully asked. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised; you and Tempe have always been attached at the hip."

"Not so much for the past seven years."

Sully's face dropped a little. "You two broke up, didn't you?"

"She left me after she thought I was leaving her for my ex. I met Katy for the first time last week."

"Looks like we're in the same position," Sully partially joked, before becoming serious. "Why did you think leaving a pregnant Tempe would be a good idea?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I wasn't leaving Bones. And it was really bad timing. I got assigned a case that I couldn't tell her about assigned to me the same day she overheard Hannah ask me to act as Brooke's dad because _you_ were an idiot and didn't give her your contact information. So, I could easily blame you."

"Hannah? Like the woman I just told you about, Hannah?"

"Blonde reporter? Yep. Hey, I slept with your ex and you slept with mine. Oh, and I've been raising Brooke for the past six years."

"So, you and Hannah are together again?" the ex-agent asked a little disappointment echoing in his voice.

"No, I haven't been since she turned my marriage proposal seven and a half years ago. Before she met you."

"You were the perfect boyfriend she was ranting to me about the night we met."

"_Perfect_?" Booth asked, his ego suddenly a little inflated.

"Except you wanted more than she could offer. Don't worry I made her forget about you by the end of the night," Sully again partially joke.

"You can be an ass, you know that?"

They walked in silence for a few moments before Sully asked Booth the question that had been on his mind since Booth mentioned raising Brooke. "Tempe said I might be able to meet Brooke. Do you think Hannah would let me?"

"Yeah, she's been asking me to try to find you for years. She wants you to be involved in Brooke's life."

"You've been looking for me for years and _Tempe_'s the one to find me?"

"Well, I don't know how Bones figured it out unless she did her bone/ facial thing. But all I was given was the name Tim."

"I still can't believe we ended up having a kid with the other's ex," Sully commented. "There's got to be weird bond from some culture we have now."

"I'm sure Bones can tell you about one if you really want to know, but I'd prefer not to think about it."

It was only then that the two men reached the car. Booth got in the car and motioned Sully to get in. "You're staying with Bones, right?"

"She offered, but I've got a hotel room. I just came by to say hi and find out when I could see Hannah and my daughter."

"Brooke stays with Hannah on weekends," Booth supplied. "I can drop you off by Hannah's on the way back to my place, if you want."

"Seriously?"

"No, I'm going to drop you off on the side of the road," he deadpanned.

"I owe you, Booth."

"First, though, we got to get Katy and her stuff. I'm not missing my first weekend with her."

"I think I can handle that," Sully smiled.


	33. Romance in the End

**Final chapter! Yay! Sorry, it took so long! But no more waiting. :) **

**Thanks again to meredithgrey23, my beta. :)**

**Hope you've enjoyed my story.**

* * *

><p>The weekend went perfectly for Booth and Katy. After calling Hannah to make sure it was okay to bring Sully by and letting him off there, Booth spent a good hour explaining to Katy how Washington was not as safe as the community she had grown up in and that there were a lot of bad people out there. Being a five year old, however, Katy's attention did begin to dwindle after about fifteen minutes. But after being around Brennan so often, she was good at hiding her boredom. And after Booth informed Katy that since she had disobeyed him and her mother, there were limits on what she was able to do that night. Luckily for both of them, all either of them wanted to do was watch a movie and eat pizza (half cheese, half pepperoni). Booth had kept some of Parker's favorite movies from when he was Katy's age, so he let Katy pick from those. Once Booth was able to get Katy to accept that the fish, turtles, and sharks were talking, she ended up enjoying Finding Nemo. The next day consisted of them going to the park and getting ice cream, before retreating back to Booth's apartment for a thrilling game of Chutes and Ladders, followed by Candyland. And Sunday was used for church and a nice lunch, then Booth and Katy ended up watching television. He was going to let her watch whatever was on Cartoon Network now, but Katy had said those shows were dumb and asked Booth what he liked. Surprisingly, Katy loved sports about as much as her father. About four o'clock, though, Booth received a call.<p>

"Booth."

"Seeley, it's me."

"Hey, Hannah, what's up?"

"I was calling to get your opinion on Tim."

Booth hesitated for a second before getting up from next to Katy, but he knew that this meant something big for Hannah and Brooke. Either Sully had royally pissed Hannah off, or she was seriously considering letting him into their lives. Booth hoped for the latter. Sully was a good guy, and if Booth had to choose someone, it might actually be him.

"What about him?"

"He said you two were friends when he worked at the FBI."

"Yeah, we were. He's a good guy. Why?"

"Do you think I should let him and Brooke spend time together?"

Booth paused only for a moment. The very selfish side of him pointed out that if he said no, he would continue to be the only father in Brooke's life. But the rest of him said that it was his friend, the biological father of Brooke who would do all he could to make up for the lost time. If the positions were reversed, he hoped Sully would say the exact same thing he did. "I do. Sully is the type of guy who will always be there. He would have been here sooner if he'd known."

"Okay. That's what I thought too, but I thought you would want to have a say. After all, you've been the one here."

Booth gave a half smile. "Yeah, I did. So, everything is okay between you?"

"'Surprisingly, yes. He and Brooke get along really well. And it hasn't been as awkward as I thought it would be for us, since we haven't seen each other since one drunken night seven years ago."

"So, you're going to let him be involved and have some relationship with him besides drunken affair?"

"Yes and hopefully. Two one night stands isn't a great relationship-"

"Whoa, wait. Two?"

"I told you a long time ago that there was a special connection-"

"So you two are going straight from strangers to romance. Okay, that's what I wanted to clarify."

"Honestly, Seeley, you're an adult. You can handle hearing about friends having sex. I know for a fact you did it, and not just from your two kids."

"Hannah!"

She could not help but laugh. "Relax. Plus, my mom dropped by unannounced and took Brooke for the night."

Booth sighed. His mind had not even completely caught up with that fact yet, but was still thankful for it. "Thank God. So, should I be filing for Sully to join the Bureau again?" he asked partially kidding. He did not know whether Sully would want to come back to the Bureau or not.

"Only if it's as a paper pusher, like you. I don't want her to lose a father."

"Hey! I'm not a paper pusher!"

"You aren't a field agent, anymore either."

Booth opened his mouth to respond, but could not. "Okay, maybe I am, but it was part of the promotion deal."

"I know. So, how are things with you and Temperance?"

Booth gave a small groan and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I have Katy here, so it's a step in the right direction."

"Then I will let you get back to spending time with her. And just let things happen. Eventually you will end up were you're supposed to be with Temperance."

"Thanks, Hannah. I'll pick Brooke up tomorrow, too."

"Great. I'll talk to you later, then."

Both ends of the line hung up, and Booth walked back in with Katy whose attention was still completely on the hockey game in front of them.

The next morning after dropping Katy off at school, Booth went straight towards the lab. He needed to apologize to Brennan as soon as possible. Two weeks ago, they had been fine, and Booth hoped that they could at least return to that, even though his heart wanted more. When he got there, he was not surprised to see all the lights off, except for in a lone office. He walked right over and stood in the doorway of the famed anthropologist. He just stood there watching her for a moment. She was focused on her computer, though he could not tell if it was an article or an X-ray. She had that look in her eye that Booth missed. The one that said 'I know what this is'. Finally, he tapped lightly on the glass door and gained her attention.

"Booth, what are you doing here? Is Katy okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. I dropped her off at school a few minutes ago."

Brennan released a breath that Booth did not realize she had taken before she continued. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"It's more what I came here to say. I'm sorry I yelled at you last week. I just… I just didn't like the idea of some stranger coming and replacing me in Brooke's life, especially when I thought I didn't know him. I know you were just trying to help. And you did. Hannah called me over the weekend to tell me how well it was going. But when I heard you telling some guy who could have been an ex-con that you were going to try to let him near Brooke, I just lost it. I overreacted and said a lot of stuff that I shouldn't have. I do think you're a good mom, and you know I trust you. I always have. I just wasn't expecting it. I mean, it went from me thinking I might never see you again to us starting to head back in the right direction. And then I walk in and here you telling Sully that he's Brooke's father."

"I was going to tell you at lunch that Sully was her father, but you never let me get that far," Brennan pointed out. "I knew that you would want to know, but when you started yelling at me, I assumed that you weren't ready to hear who he was. But then you started insulting _me_, Booth. You started suggesting that I didn't care about Katy and I would let anyone wander aimlessly into her life! I wouldn't do that. I haven't even been on a date since she was born. Of course, you also attacked the men I've dated."

"Bones, I swear I didn't mean a word of it. I know you're a great mother. And as for the whole dating thing, I really could have lived without you telling me that part. But you were dishing it out as much as you were taking it."

Brennan sighed. "I still believe I owe you an apology for what I said about you."

"And for the punch?" Booth asked with a lighter tone.

"No, that was deserved. But I apologize for not telling you immediately, allowing for your anger to build up which led to the fight."

"Did you just take blame for the fight?" Booth asked in awe.

"No. I'm suggesting that we share the blame equally."

"I can handle that." He gave her one of his most charming grins and was rewarded with a smile.

"Okay, well, I'll let you get back to work. And, I'll call you later." He began to stroll out, happy that he had managed to actually make up with her and not have them ready to kill each other.

"Wait, Booth!"

He spun around and looked at Brennan. "Yeah?

"You said that at the park we were 'starting to head back in the right direction.' Where does that direction lead us?"

"Wherever you want it to, Bones."

"Then how do you know the park was the right direction. You obviously have some hope for where this relationship will go."

Booth was a little startled, but kept a cool face on. "I do, but I'd rather go as far as you're comfortable."

"But I can't properly assess how to handle our relationship until I know where you want it to go. And since you have some idea, I'd appreciate it if you would tell me."

"You really want to know? Because you might not like the answer." He really hoped she said something to get him off the hook, but doubt that she would. What was he supposed to say? 'I still love you and want to get married eventually?' Yeah, that would end well. He might get a bruise to match Parker's or worse, a flat out rejection.

"I still want to know."

Deciding this might be his final chance to do so, Booth walked over to her. She opened her mouth to ask what he was doing invading her personal space, but, before she could make a sound, his lips were covering hers. And before she could close her jaw, his tongue was trying to duel with hers. His arms quickly went around her waist, pulling her just a little closer to him.

At first, he felt no reaction. A second later, though, there was no doubt that her brain had caught up with what he was doing, because her body stiffened. He knew that he would get a black eye from this, but honestly did not care. Kissing her again felt like heaven, even if she was not engaged with it, and any amount of pain it cost him was worth it. But as quickly as she had become rigid, he felt her body lean into his. He suddenly felt her arms around his neck and her tongue suddenly winning the battle with his. Booth kept waiting for her to pull back and tell him that they could not live in the past, but they continued until they both ran out of air. As they broke apart, Booth rested his forehead on hers.

"Does this mean what I think it means, Bones?"

"I have no way to tell what you're thinking. But I would like to eventually be where we were before I saw you and Hannah talking."

Booth smiled. "I think that can be arranged," he told her before going in for another long, passionate kiss.

Unknown to them, a single night guard stood at the door of the lab, smiling. "About damn time they started listening to the universe."


End file.
